Dave Chappelle Slams Bill Maher in Controversial New Netflix Special: “F— That Guy”

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Dave Chappelle addressed Bill Maher’s concerns about his performance at a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia in his new Netflix special, The Unstoppable. The special, which debuted on December 19th, has been widely noticed for Chappelle’s direct and outspoken remarks.

During his show, Dave Chappelle addressed the recent criticism he’s received. The backlash started after it became known that he performed at a comedy event in Saudi Arabia. He acknowledged the public’s anger but stated he doesn’t regret his decision. “I’ve been getting a lot of grief recently because I did a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia,” he explained to the audience.

Chappelle then addressed Bill Maher, a friend he’s known since his late teens. He voiced his annoyance with Maher’s public statements and critiques, saying, “I’ve never said this publicly, but I’m really tired of his condescending and frankly offensive commentary.” The statement drew a strong reaction from the audience.

I remember Bill Maher talking about the comedy festival in Riyadh on his show, Real Time. He gave props to the comedians who performed, calling them really brave for doing so. But he strongly disagreed with Dave Chappelle’s take that it was easier to be funny and speak his mind in Saudi Arabia than here in the US. He actually said, right on air, that it wasn’t true, and jokingly challenged Dave to try doing a bit about Mohammed himself, just to prove his point.

In his show, The Unstoppable, Chappelle directly responded to the criticism. He explained he didn’t intend for his comments to become news and was just sharing his personal perspective.

He explained that he hadn’t asked for his comments to be published, he’d simply made them while performing on stage. Chappelle also mentioned that recent criticism in the U.S., particularly surrounding his jokes about transgender people, influenced his perspective. He recalled nearly being “canceled” in the U.S. two years ago, but noted those same jokes were well-received by audiences in Saudi Arabia.

The Riyadh Comedy Festival brought together big names like Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, and Aziz Ansari. However, the event wasn’t without controversy. Comedians Jimmy Kimmel, David Cross, Marc Maron, and Shane Gillis all spoke out against it. Despite the criticism, some who performed at the festival, like Bill Burr, actually had a very positive experience, calling it one of the highlights of his career.

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2025-12-21 10:44