Dave Chappelle says Netflix removed 'Chappelle's Show' at his request and calls out ViacomCBS for not paying him

• Dave Chappelle says Netflix removed his popular sketch show "Chappelle's Show" from its streaming catalog after he asked it to.
• Chappelle said ViacomCBS, which owns the show's rights, was licensing it for streaming without his permission.
• During a new stand-up show, he said that he called Netflix and told it the situation "makes me feel bad" and that the company then "agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better."
• Chappelle also said ViacomCBS did not pay him after he left "Chappelle's Show" in 2006 and urged fans not to watch the show until the pay dispute had been settled.
• "I'm begging you, if you ever liked me, if you ever think there was anything worthwhile about me, please don't watch that show," he said.

Netflix added "Chappelle's Show" to its US library at the beginning of November — but just two weeks later the show has been removed at the request of its creator, Dave Chappelle.

The 47-year-old comedian revealed the news during a recent stand-up show posted on Instagram on Tuesday in which he said ViacomCBS, which owns the rights to the show, was licensing it for streaming without informing him.

"I found out that these people were streaming my work and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me," he said. "Perfectly legal 'cause I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn't think so either."

Chappelle said he was "furious" when he found out that Netflix — which produced several of his most recent stand-up specials — was streaming the show.

"How could they not know?" he said. "So you know what I did? I called them and I told them that this makes me feel bad. And you want to know what they did? They agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better."

A post shared by Dave Chappelle (@davechappelle)

Chappelle also said ViacomCBS refused to pay him after he abruptly quit "Chappelle's Show" in 2006, and he urged fans not to watch the show until the pay dispute had been settled.

"I'm begging you, if you ever liked me, if you ever think there was anything worthwhile about me, please don't watch that show," he said. "I'm not asking you to boycott any network — boycott me. Boycott 'Chappelle's Show.' Do not watch it unless they pay me."

The sketch show is available to stream as well as purchase on several ViacomCBS brands including CBS All Access, and it was recently added to HBO Max.

Earlier this month, Chappelle called out both Netflix and HBO Max for streaming the show during his time hosting the first postelection episode of "Saturday Night Live."

During the razor-sharp monologue, Chappelle drew comparisons between himself and his great-grandfather, who was born a slave, and the fact that the services were streaming a show bearing their family name without paying him.

"If he could see me now, he'd probably be like, 'This n---- got bought and sold more than I have,'" he joked.

• Read more:
• At the end of his biting 'SNL' monologue, Dave Chappelle encourages America 'to find a way to forgive each other'
• Dave Chappelle cuts the jokes to take an incisive look at racism in America in his surprise Netflix special '8:46'
• In a scorching monologue on George Floyd's death, Dave Chappelle ripped into Don Lemon, Candace Owens, and Laura Ingraham