A stand-up comic has come under fire for his reaction to criticism of a joke he made about domestic abuse.
Natural Selection, a Netflix show by American comedian Matt Rife, premiered last week.
It was advertised as ‘keeping nothing back’, from his ‘trouble with protection crystals to his feud with social media trolls’.
The special’s opening joke, on the other hand, swiftly heated up many viewers.
His hour-long set began with an anecdote set at a restaurant in ‘ratchet’ Baltimore where ‘the hostess who seats you had a black eye’.
‘A full black eye. It wasn’t like, “What happened?” It was pretty obvious what happened,’ he continued.
‘But we couldn’t get over, like, this is the face of the company? This is who you have greeting people?
‘And my boy, who I was with, was like, “Yeah, I feel bad for her, man, I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face”. And I was like, “yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.”.’
Following the special’s November 15 premiere, several X, previously Twitter, users called him out for the’misogynistic’ joke about domestic violence.
‘Matt Rife opens his special with a “if a woman could cook she wouldn’t have a black eye” joke. Really? This is your god?’ one person posted.
‘Ah Matt Rife starting off his Netflix comedy special with a domestic violence joke to apparently appeal to men. Hilarious,’ someone else shared.
Another added: ‘Not Matt Rife building his platform on catering to his female audience and then opening his Netflix special with a domestic violence joke.’
Meanwhile one individual stated they considered the joke may have been exaggerated, but apologised after tuning in since the response to offence caused was ‘right’.
However, after the backlash, Rife decided to respond and wrote: ‘If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told – here’s a link to my official apology.’
Labelled ‘tap to solve your issue’ on his Instagram Stories, the link he shared took people to a website selling helmets for people with special needs.
His approach to an ‘apology’ further incensed many.
‘I don’t usually let this kinda influencer drama get to me, but Matt Rife has crossed a line with his jokes on domestic violence and responding with the Instagram story. So gross,’ someone shared.
‘Matt Rife is a grown man making domestic abuse jokes along with misogynistic comments and basically blaming the victim. Then responds with ableism…it’s nearly 2024. There’s no f***ing excuse for this behaviour. It’s disgusting,’ another person posted.
Another wrote: ‘There’s a difference between an edgy joke and just being disrespectful and distasteful.’
Meanwhile another called him out for ‘punching down’ on people.
Ahead of the release of his Netflix special, Rife told Variety that Natural Selection was ‘way more for guys’.
‘One thing I wanted to tackle in this special was showing people that, despite what you think about me online, I don’t pander my career to women.
‘I would argue [Natural Selection] is way more for guys.’
When asked whether he was worried about offending audiences with his darker material, Rife responded: ‘You don’t know what other people are into and that’s why you have to go out there and do your comedy and just lay it all out there, vulnerably, to find your audience.
‘The way I look at it is, as a comedian everything comes down to intent.
‘I know for me, everything that leaves my mouth on stage is purely with the intention of making people laugh. It’s never any deeper, never any more or never any less than that.’
Rife, who began his stand-up career at the age of 15, has 6.4 million Instagram followers and over 18.2 million TikTok followers.
Source My Celebrity Life.
