‘Chappelle’s Show’ Returns to Netflix With Dave Chappelle’s Blessing
One of the longest-running feuds in Hollywood is over. For more than 15 years, comedian Dave Chappelle has been at odds with Comedy Central, the home of his popular Chappelle’s Show sketch series, over the way the show ended. Chappelle signed a famously lucrative contract shortly before quitting the series in 2005. That decision, Chappelle revealed last year, meant he “never got paid” for any of the lucrative licensing deals that Comedy Central and its parent company, ViacomCBS, made when they sold Chappelle’s Show to various streaming platforms.
Chappelle’s frustration came to a head back in November, when he called for a boycott of his own television series over the missing payments. Several platforms that licensed the show, including Netflix and HBO Max, took the series down even though they were well within their contractual rights to keep airing the show anyway. The pressure campaign clearly worked. In a new Instagram video titled “Redemption Song,” Chappelle reveals during a standup show that the company has made good.
“I got my name back. I got my license back. I got my show back. And they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much,” Chappelle told a crowd in Austin, Texas. He specifically thanked Ted Sarandos of Netflix for having “the courage to take the show off its platform at financial detriment to his company, just because I asked him.” He also cited Chris McCarthy of Viacom CBS, who in Chappelle’s words “did something that was very courageous” in paying him and making the situation right. “Finally,” Chappelle concluded, “after all these years I can finally say to Comedy Central ‘It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”
The clip ends with an announcement that Chappelle’s Show would return to Netflix on February 12 — and sure enough, it’s streaming there right now. Watch Dave Chappelle’s full announcement, which also includes his commentary on the January 6 storming of the Capitol, below:
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