Matt Rife stirred controversy after opening his Netflix special ‘Natural Selection’ with a joke on domestic violence
Matt Rife recently reacted to the backlash he received for a joke he made during his debut Netflix special Natural Selection.
The stand-up comedian stirred controversy after he opened his set with a joke on domestic violence. He started with a story about being in a Baltimore restaurant with his friend where they were greeted by a hostess who had a black eye.
“I’ve only been to Baltimore one time. I ate lunch there, and the hostess who seats you at the restaurant had a black eye. A full black eye. And it wasn’t like, ‘What happened?’ It was pretty obvious what happened,” Matt says in the special.
He then added how his friend felt bad for the staffer and suggested she should be placed in the kitchen where no one should see her.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye,'” the 28-year-old comedian added as the Washington DC audience erupted into laughter.
After drawing flak, Matt took to his Instagram story and wrote: “If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology,” and added a link that takes users to a website selling helmets designed for people with special needs.
Taking to the comment section of his recent post, Matt’s fans defended him and said he doesn’t “have to apologise for being funny.”
A user, who claimed to be a domestic violence survivor, said that even she found the joke to be “hilarious.”
Whereas, several netizens slammed the comedian, stating that domestic violence is a serious issue. Criticising the DV survivors who said they found Matt’s joke funny, one user wrote, “You can speak for yourself only, not everyone. Disgusting.”