Comedian Dave Chappelle said Comedy Central parent ViacomCBS reached out and made a new deal with him, clearing the way for Netflix to resume streaming Chappelle’s Show.
Chappelle, who abruptly left his Comedy Central show in 2005 after signing a $50 million deal with the network, last year asked Netflix to stop streaming the show because he wasn’t getting paid. Netflix agreed.
Chappelle also asked viewers to top watching the show and HBO Max and Comedy Central also ceased running it.
On Thursday night on his Instagram page, Chappelle said that Comedy Central had called him and that a new deal had been struck.
The Instagram video showed Chappelle performing for a group of people. “I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God almighty you did. You made that show worthless. Without your eyes, it’s worthless,” he said. “When you stopped watching, they called me. I got my name back. I got my license back. I got my show back and they paid me millions.”
Chappelle thanked Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos for taking an action that could have hurt his business. Chappelle’s show was back on Netflix Friday.
He also thanked Chris McCarthy of “CBSViacom" (he’s actually president of ViacomCBS’s Entertainment & Youth Brands and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks).
He said McCarthy “has an interest in making the past right.”
During the Instagram post, Chappelle also confirmed that he’d contracted the coronavirus.
