Chappelle Asks Netflix to Pull His Show; It Does

Netflix has agreed to stop streaming Chappelle's Show after a request from the show's star. Dave Chappelle says he was a "desperate" 28-year-old expectant father when he signed the Comedy Central contract to launch the show and that now, nearly two decades later, it's been licensed to Netflix and HBO Max without any additional compensation being offered to him. "Perfectly legal because I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so either," he says in an Instagram video cited by the New York Times. He praises Netflix in the video, Variety notes: "You want to know what they did? They agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better."

Chappelle considers Netflix his comedy home, and has filmed multiple stand-up specials for the streaming service, which agreed to stop streaming his old show after it had been on the service for less than a month. So far, Netflix has not said anything about the decision other than confirming the show has been removed. Chappelle also slammed Comedy Central and its parent company, ViacomCBS, for the "raw deal" that also makes it hard for him to recreate his old show. "If I do, I can’t call it Chappelle’s Show because my name and likeness is being used by them in perpetuity throughout the universe. It’s in the contract." HBO Max is still streaming the show, which Chappelle said he finds ironic considering HBO rejected his pitch for it decades back. (More Dave Chappelle stories.)