‘Chappelle’s Show’ Returns to Netflix With Dave Chappelle’s Blessing After It Was Removed Last Year

Chappelle’s Show is officially heading back to Netflix. Three months after the series was pulled from the streaming service at the request of its creator, Dave Chapelle, just days after it dropped, the comedian revealed in an Instagram post Thursday that the Comedy Central show will return to the streaming platform on Feb. 12. The show’s return, according to Chapelle, comes after Comedy Central agreed to give his license back and “paid me millions of dollars.”

Chapelle shared the exciting news at the end of a 10-minute-long clip from a performance he did at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas, titled Redemption Song. During the performance, Chappelle explained the reasoning behind his series’ disappearance from Netflix and his dispute with Comedy Central and his demands that they pay him for any deals related to Chappelle’s Show. He went on to thank fans who stopped watching the show.

“I never asked Comedy Central for anything. If you remember, I said ‘I’m going to my real boss and I came to you’ because I know where my power lies,” Chappelle said. “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. 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.”

In the video, Chappelle extended his thanks to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos for his “courage” and Chris McCarthy of ViacomCBS for “making the past right” by completing the deal. He said that “finally, after all of these years, I can finally say to Comedy Central, ‘it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.’”

Netflix began airing Chappelle’s Show on Nov. 1 but pulled the series just three weeks later on Nov. 24, after the comedian complained that Comedy Central’s owner ViacomCBS licensed the show without his approval. In a video at the time, Chappelle explained that he called Netflix “and I told them that this makes me feel bad.” He said the streaming company “agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better.”

The iconic variety show comprised of sketches and stand-up routines from the beloved comic’s mind aired on Comedy Central between 2003 and 2006. After signing a reported $50 million deal ahead of Season 3, Chappelle quit the series in 2006, “citing the stress of producing the show and his increasing discomfort with the material in its sketches,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Comedy Central then aired “The Lost Episodes” of the show,” which featured completed Season 3 episodes. It also began airing re-runs.

Chappelle’s Show is streaming now on Netflix, along with his five most recent stand-up specials. The show joins the streamer’s existing lineup of stand-up specials from a host of comedians. You can view the full list of Netflix February 2021 releases by clicking here.