I think it's just more ironic than "taking it back". I don't think anyone worth respecting would call themselves "a Chad".

So in context for this, a dude doubling down on his gay love story is certainly not what an incel would attribute to "a Chad", but the rest of us could look at Nick Offerman and say "damn, I respect the hell out of that guy, what a Chad".

When did “a Chad” become a positive term? From my experince growing up it was a mid-west term for rich city kids, and then later on the internet it became a red piller/incel term for “Alpha male”.

The definition and history for the word.

In my extended friend group we use Chad as a comedyish thing to call someone when they do something cool/good or perceived as cool/good but we mean it. While someone calling themselves a Chad in a non self deprecating way is usually a dbag.