If you’re a Dave Chappelle fan, you’ll remember that last November, the legendary comedian encouraged fans to avoid watching Chappelle’s Show, his Comedy Central series that ran between 2003-2006, due to ViacomCBS having cut him out of the licensing deals for the show. Netflix responded by removing it from their library at his request, but as of February 12th, all three seasons are now once again available to stream on Netflix US.
The series’ return follows on from Chappelle and ViacomCBS finally coming to an agreement, bringing an end to their long-lasting feud that began when Chappelle’s Show wrapped. The news was announced along with a new stand-up video from the comedian titled Redemption Song, intended as a follow-up to a clip shared at the time of its removal called Unforgiven.
As per Entertainment Weekly, Chappelle released a statement thanking his fans for boycotting the show before it was pulled and for helping him finally receive what he was owed by the studio, saying:
“You made that show worthless because without your eyes, it’s nothing. And 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.”
The specifics of the mended relationship between the two parties has yet to be divulged, but Chappelle did thank ViacomCBS’ Chris McCarthy for helping him fix the situation. And as well as its Netflix comeback, Chappelle’s Show is now also available on CBS All Access (soon to be Paramount Plus). HBO Max previously took it down as well, though it’s yet to be returned to their library. For those overseas, unfortunately, this deal still hasn’t made the series available on Netflix in other territories.
As well as Chappelle’s Show, Netflix is also home to his various comedy specials, including 2017’s Dave Chappelle, 2017’s Equanimity & The Bird Revelation and 2019’s Sticks & Stones.