Classic sketch comedy series Chapelle’s Show is back on Netflix after the streamer removed it in November at the request of creator Dave Chapelle. The comedian made the news during a performance at the Stubbs venue in Austin, of which he shared a snippet on his Instagram. In the NSFW clip, spotted by Variety, Chappelle thanked Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos for sticking with him and addressed his difficult relationship with Comedy Central, which was at the heart of the removal.
The stand-up comic regularly claimed that his contract with Comedy Central owner ViacomCBS allowed the company to license the series without his approval, which in turn prevented him from receiving royalties for the show. Why does it matter for a successful comic and actor with a comfortable Netflix concert? Well, the royalty checks pick up over time, especially for a canonical comedy that can be watched on repeat Chapelle’s Show.
“This is a very important moment,” Chappelle said in the new video. ‘I want to thank Ted Sarandos from Netflix, a CEO with the courage to take my program off his platform [at] financial damage to his company, just because I asked him. He goes on to talk about the power of his fans to make the program ‘worthless’ by simply not watching it.
The move seems to have worked, as Chappelle claims that ViacomCBS ‘made the past right’ and ‘did something very courageous’. He adds: “After all these years, I can finally say that Comedy Central was a pleasure to do business with you.”