Dave Chappelle just flexed his industry muscles big time — he asked Netflix to pull his old Comedy Central sketch show from their service … and they actually did.
The comedian broke the news Tuesday in a new stand-up segment he posted called ‘Unforgiven’ — where, in front of a live audience, he talked about how he recently called up Netflix and told ’em how displeased he was that they were streaming ‘Chappelle’s Show.’
In his act, Dave recounts how it went down. Long story short, he says he has no say, rights or rights to revenue over the show — it belongs to Comedy Central, which belongs to Viacom — and that it’s perfectly legal for Viacom to do what it wants with it since he signed a deal years ago. But, he also asks … is that right?
Apparently, Dave posed that question to Netflix as well — and the honchos either agreed with him, or just wanted to keep him happy. Either way, “Chappelle’s Show” is off the platform … something they didn’t legally have to do.
It speaks to the relationship Dave shares with Netflix — he’s churned out special after special with them for a few years now … which have been wildly successful.
Clearly, Netflix respects him enough to honor his wishes and to keep that partnership going. Dave forecasted his frustration about Netflix and HBO Max landing rights to stream ‘Chappelle’s Show’ in his SNL monologue just earlier this month.
He made it clear then … he didn’t make a dime off the licensing deals, and worked the revelation into a bit about being bought and sold like a slave.
BTW, HBO Max is still streaming ‘Chappelle’s Show’ right now. Unclear if they’re planning to follow suit — but based on Dave’s history with the network … he’s probably not holding his breath.
