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Netflix Pulls 'Chappelle's Show' After Dave Chappelle Asks Them To Do It

Source: Sean Rayford / Getty

Dave Chappelle doesn’t want you to watch his classic sketch comedy series, Chappelle’s Show, for a good reason.

Comedic legend Dave Chappelle made an interesting appeal to fans, “Boycott Me.” In a surprise move, Chappelle dropped a nearly 19-minute clip from a recent standup show titled “Unforgiven.” In it, he explains why Netflix suddenly decided to pull his Comedy Central series, Chappelle’s Show, from its lineup of streaming content.

Before he dropped the Instagram post this morning, Chappelle made it abundantly clear he was not a fan of Comedy Central’s parent company ViacomCBS licensing his show during his opening monologue during a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. In the clip, he expounds on the situation, stating that he never got paid and took matters into his own hands by asking Netflix — where he currently has a deal for standup specials — to take the show off their service.

Netflix honored his request and removed the Chappelle’s Show overnight Deadline confirmed in conversation with a rep for the streaming giant. The Chappelle Show is still currently streaming on HBO Max and CBS All Access.

In classic Chappelle form, the comedian brought up the situation while harking back on a moment when a joke was stolen from him early in his career.

“People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show. When I left that show, I never got paid. They (ViacomCBS) didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people were streaming my work, and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me. Perfectly legal ‘cause I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so either. That’s why I like working for Netflix. I like working for Netflix because when all those bad things happened to me, that company didn’t even exist. And when I found out they were streaming Chappelle’s Show, I was furious. How could they not– how could they not know? So you know what I did? I called them, and I told them that this makes me feel bad. And you want to know what they did? They agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better. That’s why I f*ck with Netflix. Because they paid me my money, they do what they say they’re going to do, and they went above and beyond what you could expect from a businessman. They did something just because they thought that I might think that they were wrong. And I do — I think that if you are f*cking streaming that show you’re fencing stolen goods.”

After a conversation with his agent that didn’t result in what he wanted to hear regarding his options when handling the situation, Chappelle decided that he would speak directly with fans imploring them to stop watching The Chappelle Show.

“So I’m not going to the agents, I’m coming to my real boss — I’m coming to you. I’m begging you — if you ever liked me, if you ever think there was anything worthwhile about me, I’m begging you, please don’t watch that show. I’m not asking you to boycott any network — boycott me. Boycott Chappelle’s Show. Do not watch it unless they pay me.”

Damn.

You can watch the entire clip below.

Photo: Sean Rayford / Getty