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Chapelle’s Show is back on Netflix in the US, with the blessing of Dave Chappelle.
Back in November, the comedian urged the streamer to remove the show from its service due to a pay row.
Explaining in a video his shared on Instagram, Chappelle said ViacomCBS had licensed the Comedy Central series without paying him, meaning any money Netflix paid to purchase rights to the show didn’t make their way back to its titular creator.
Chappelle ended his message by urging his fans to boycott the show, saying: “Do not watch it unless they pay me.”
Now, the row in question has been decisively ended. In a new post, again on Instagram, Chappelle said to his fans: “I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God almighty for you, you did. You made that show worthless because without your eyes it’s nothing.”
He added: “And when you stopped watching 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.”
Addressing Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, Chappelle thanked the boss for having “the courage to take show off its platform at a financial detriment to his company, just because I asked him to.”
“After all these years, I can finally say to Comedy Central, ‘it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.'”
In his initial message to fans in November, asking them to stop streaming the show, Chappelle said: “People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show. 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 because I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so, either.”
Last month, Chappelle tested positive for coronavirus just hours before he was set to perform the latest date of a standup residency in Austin, Texas.
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