If you’re looking to stream Chappelle’s Show on Netflix today, not only are you out of luck but you’re making Dave Chappelle very unhappy. The comedian posted a video to Instagram this morning laying out his issues with Viacom and Comedy Central continuing to license a show that they apparently no longer pay him for thanks to the terms of his original contract. “People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show,†Chappelle says in the video, which appears to have been shot during a performance in a theater within the past few weeks. “When I left that show, I never got paid. They 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?â€
In an unprecedented move, Chappelle revealed that he had gotten Netflix to agree to remove Chappelle’s Show from the streaming platform because that’s what he wanted. “They did something just because they thought that I might think that they were wrong. And I do. I think that if you are fucking streaming that show, you’re fencing stolen goods.†But he didn’t stop there — Chappelle called out the business practices of the entertainment industry as a whole. “I’m not up here trying to tell you guys that I believe that Comedy Central gave me a raw deal just because I’m Black,†he said. “I believe that they gave me a raw deal because this fucking industry is a monster. It’s the same monster that these Me Too bitches was trying to tell you about. But they hate the monster for how it fucks, and I hate that monster for how it eats. But my God, man, it’s the same monster.â€
He also went after HBO Max for streaming the show after having passed on it originally. “Did you know before Chappelle’s Show was at Comedy Central, I pitched that show to HBO? I told them what I wanted to do. Now, these are executives; all they had to do was say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take it,’ or ‘No thank you, we won’t,’†Chappelle said. “But they didn’t say either of those things. They went too far. They said, literally, ‘What do we need you for?’ That’s what they told me as they kicked me out of the office: ‘What do we need you for?’ And here we are, all these years later, and they’re streaming the very show that I was pitching to them. So I’m asking them: What do you need me for?â€
Chappelle went on to ask his fans to no longer stream Chappelle’s Show. “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.†He then addressed the shareholders of Viacom directly: “All that shit that they do to us, well, they do everything for their shareholders. That’s what they told me. So if you’re a shareholder in that company, tell them it’s wrong. And if you don’t believe that it’s wrong, then fuck you, too. You should know what’s in the hot dogs you eat.â€