12:17 PST 2/12/2021
by
Abid Rahman
The comedian revealed in an Instagram post on Thursday that Comedy Central had agreed to return his license and ‘paid me millions of dollars’.
Chapelle’s Show streaming out on Netflix again and this time it’s Dave Chappelle’s blessing.
In an Instagram clip published Thursday, Chappelle revealed that the Comedy Central show he created and eventually left returned to the streaming platform on February 12, just over two months after it was pulled at his request .
In the clip, which appears from the comedian’s recent tour through Austin, Chappelle gives background on what led to Netflix pulling Chappelle’s Show end of November last year. On the recent uprising in Washington DC, Chappelle drew attention to people who need to know “where their power lies.” He summed up his dispute with Comedy Central and his demands that they pay him for any transactions related to Chappelle’s Show and then explained, “I know where my strength lies.”
“I asked you to stop watching the program and thank Almighty God for you,” Chappelle said of his fans. “You made the program worthless, because without your eyes it is nothing.”
He added: “And when you no longer watch it, they called me. And I got my name back and I got my license back, and I got my show back and they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much.”
Chappelle thanked Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, for “having the courage to show his platform with a financial disadvantage for his company, just because I asked him to.” He also thanked Chris McCarthy of ViacomCBS for correcting the past by completing the deal.
He ended the clip by saying, “After all these years, I can finally say to Comedy Central, ‘It was a pleasure doing business with you.’
Chappelle’s Show has been streaming on Netflix in the US since November 1st. In an 18-minute video of his standup released on November 24, the comedian talked about the terrible contract he had at the beginning of Chappelle’s Show, which aired on Comedy Central from 2003-06. ‘People think I made a lot of money from it Chappelle’s Show“he said.” When I left the program, I never paid. They do not have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people stream my work and that they should never ask me, or that they should never tell me. Totally legal because I signed the contract. But is that right? I did not think so either. ‘
He revealed that he asked Netflix to pull the show, which they did afterwards.
Chappelle’s Show was a breakthrough for Comedy Central and the comedian. After signing a signed $ 50 million deal before the third season of the show, Chappelle left the series, citing the tension the production offered and his growing discomfort with the material in his sketches.