HBO Max removing 'Chappelle's Show'

After being removed from Netflix less than a month after debuting on the service, Chappelle’s Show will now be removed from HBO Max, too. Variety reports that chief content office Casey Bloys announced the move at his keynote conversation during their virtual FYC Fest.

“We had a conversation with Dave,” Bloys said. “I won’t get into it, but it’s very clear that it’s a very unique and specific and emotional issue he’s got. So at the end of the year, at the end of this year, December 31st, we’re going to honor his request and take the show down.”

In his November SNL monologue, Chappelle mentioned that he wasn’t getting paid for having his mid-00’s Comedy Central sketch show air on Netflix or HBO Max, and he explained the issue further in “Unforgiven,” a clip from a standup set he shared last month.

“People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show,” he says in “Unforgiven.” “When I left that show I never got paid. They [ViacomCBS] didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people were streaming my work and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me. Perfectly legal ‘cause I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so either.”

“I think that if you are fucking streaming that show you’re fencing stolen goods,” he continued.

Chappelle also talked about being rejected by HBO when originally pitching them Chappelle’s Show in “Unforgiven.” “They said, literally, ‘What do we need you for?,'” he said. “That’s what they told me as they kicked me out of the office, ‘What do we need you for?’ And here we are all these years later and they’re streaming the very show I was pitching to them. So I’m asking them, what do you need me for?”

Watch “Unforgiven” below.

Meanwhile, Chappelle is currently in the midst of a run of ten nights of shows at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin. Half are with controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, and half are billed as “Dave Chappelle and Friends” shows. You can see a few pictures from the ones that have happened so far below.