Dave Chappelle says his long feud with Comedy Central about the rights of Chappelle Show it’s over. The surprise announcement came during a 10-minute presentation entitled Song of redemption posted on Chappelle’s Instagram account on Thursday night. The clip ends with the news that the sketch comedy will return to Netflix starting today.
Netflix started airing Chappelle Show on November 1, but withdrew it on November 24, after the comedian complained that Comedy Central owner ViacomCBS licensed the program without his approval. “I called them and said it made me feel bad. And you want to know what they did, ”said Chappelle in a clip posted on Instagram on the morning of November 24th. “They agreed that they would remove it from their platform so that I could feel better.” Netflix, which has aired Chappelle’s standup specials since 2016, has a lucrative contract worth tens of millions of dollars with the artist.
Now, three months later, and 15 years after Chappelle left the program that aired between 2003 and 2006, we have a resolution. According to Chapelle, Comedy Central came to him to fix things.
“I never asked Comedy Central for anything. If you remember, I said ‘I’m going to my real boss and I came to you’ because I know where my power is, “said Chappelle to the Song of redemption public. “I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God Almighty for you, you did. You did that worthless show because without your eyes, it’s nothing. And when you stopped watching, they called me. And I got my name back. And I got my license back, and my program back, and they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much.”
Chappelle thanked Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos for his “courage” and ViacomCBS ‘Chris McCarthy for “fixing the past”.
“Finally, after all these years, I can finally say to Comedy Central, ‘It was a pleasure to do business with you,'” said Chappelle in closing.
Now, how about a good game of shirts vs. blouses?