I watched the special. I've enjoyed Dave Chappelle's work since before Chappelle's Show.
There was no "punching down".
In fact, it seems the real issue that everyone is ignoring is it was social media, not music, not comedy, not movies, not video games, that helped lead to the suicide of Dave's trans friend, and the people on social media that blasted the trans friend for defending Dave and his work, were/are members of the LGBTQA community themselves. Seems to me that outrage culture, cancel culture, as well as tribalism and 'wrong think' are some of the most dangerous aspects of modern society today.
You wouldn't realize that if you didn't watch the special.
As for the special lacking "jokes" there were plenty of laugh out loud moments for me, and stand up isn't always about telling one joke after another. In fact, George Carlin's HBO special "Life is Worth Losing" was considered un-funny, I thought so at the time (2005) and even the audience there only let out a few nervous laughs on tape. Watching it in 2021, I found it funnier than ever, and one of the most profound stand up specials ever created. It wasn't preachy. It was exposing how fucked up humans are and how we in America don't bat an eye over the atrocities the US government commits, unless the media blasts it in our face for 4 straight years like they did with President Trump, who was arguably the least terrible President for the planet in the last 40 years when you compare the policies of every other US President since JFK, and if the media spread as much propaganda about other politicians like they did with Trump, we MIGHT actually elect better people to run the country, because the average moron would know how bad these people really are, and how they could not care less about you or your well being, when they give those 'righteous' speeches.