HBO Honoring Dave Chappelle’s Request to Remove The Chappelle Show


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Quitting the Sketch Comedy Show

For two seasons, Dave hosted every episode of his comedy show, but things weren’t always going his way. After being offered a contract extension following the end of the second season, Dave disappeared from the public eye, leaving a $50 million contract on the table.

As it turned out, he wasn’t having fun doing the show anymore. In a recent interview with David Letterman, Dave revealed that while shooting a certain sketch, one of the crew members behind the cameras was laughing at him rather than with him. Perhaps his material, while intentionally offensive, was making him the butt of the joke.

Beef with HBO

Before being picked up by Comedy Central, Dave had pitched the idea of The Chappelle Show to execs at HBO. However, they weren’t biting, and according to Dave, they literally said, “What do we need you for?”

And after leaving Comedy Central for South Africa, ViacomCBS, the parent company of Comedy Central, wasn’t obligated to pay him a cent of that $50 million contract since he skipped town. Although he acknowledges this fact, Dave stated that not paying a creator for their work, regardless of whether they breached their contract, wasn’t the right thing to do.

Fast-forward to 2020 when HBO wants to pick up and show the very comedy sketch show they turned down all these years, Dave asked HBO execs to take the show down. Netflix, which originally also had The Dave Chappelle Show in their library, took it down immediately when Dave asked them to. As for HBO, it took several meetings with the standup comedian, but they’ll finally fulfill his request come the end of 2020.


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