Dave Chappelle Is Bringing 4 New Comedy Specials To Netflix!

Comedian Dave Chappelle didn’t stay canceled for long!

Although some fans have turned their backs on the stand-up comedian after he allegedly made controversial comments about trans people during his Netflix special, “The Closer,” Netflix is sticking with him for four more specials.

Despite calls for subscribers to boycott Netflix after his last controversial comedy special aired, The Hollywood Reporter announced on Friday that Chappelle will be hosting and executive producing four upcoming comedy specials.

The series of specials is called “Chappelle’s Home Team” and will feature a different comic in each episode. Chappelle will introduce the comic at the start of each episode.

The first episode, which premieres on February 28, will feature Nathaniel Martin Stroman, who performs under the name Earthquake. The special will be called “Earthquake: Legendary.” The next stand-up comedian will feature Donnell Rawlings. Each of the four comics featured in the series has been performing for over thirty years.

After the news was announced, Chappelle said that the comics that he will be presenting are not only friends, but they also helped to inspire his own career.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and comedians like Quake and Donnell are not only friends but have inspired my own career,” Chappelle said. “Anyone in the comedy community knows these names and knows their time to shine is long overdue. I am proud to be a part of this moment.”

This is also not the last of the partnerships between Chappelle and Netflix, either. Chappelle will headline a performance at the Hollywood Bowl for Netflix’s Los Angeles comedy special called “Netflix Is A Joke,” which begins on April 28.

As The Blast previously reported, the festival will take place in some of Los Angeles’ most acclaimed venues from April 28 to May 8 and will feature over 100 live shows by the biggest names in comedy.

“We were so disappointed to postpone the event last spring and our line-up of comedians can’t wait to bring much-needed laughs to audiences in LA and around the world on Netflix,” director Robbie Praw stated. “The ‘Netflix Is A Joke” Festival is going to give comedy fans the opportunity to see the greats and discover new voices in one of the greatest cities in the world.”

Some of these performances will be filmed and streamed on Netflix at a later date, but some are going to be exclusive to in-person audiences. It has yet to be revealed which performances will be streamed and which will only be available live, but presale tickets went on sale last December.

Although there are too many to name, according to Deadline, some of the biggest names that will headline the event besides Chappelle are Amy Schumer, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman, Chris Rock, Ali Wong, Hasan Minhaj, and Gabriel Iglesias, who his fans refer to as “Fluffy.”

Also performing is Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen, Kevin Hart, Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Handler, Ken Jeong, Conan O’Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, John Mulaney, and Bill Burr. It’s interesting to note that comedian Hannah Gadsby, who Chappelle had called out specifically during the controversy, will not be performing.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended “The Closer” comedy special and said that Netflix was an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

“We have a lot of folks who are new to Netflix and have never met anybody here,” he said. “They’ve been working from home since their first day, and so probably what they haven’t experienced is that kind of reinforcement of the allyship that the company has toward the LGBTQ+ community, including massive investment in content and creators and storytellers to represent LGBTQ+ stories on-screen and around the world, and I think at unprecedented levels.”

Sarandos dragged Gadsby’s name into the controversy by listing her as an example of the “diverse content” that Netflix provides. However, Gadsby was not too happy about it.

“Hey, Ted Sarandos! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn’t drag my name into your mess,” she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real-world consequences of the hate speech dog-whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted.”