Netflix slammed for releasing new Matt Rife special after controversial joke from his last show left people offended

Netflix has been criticised for releasing a new Matt Rife special following a controversial joke made at one of the comedian's previous shows.

Back in 2023, a comedy special on Netflix saw Rife make a joke about domestic violence - and it didn't go down well with viewers, at all.

In the special, titled Natural Selection, Rife said: "I've only been to Baltimore one time, and the hostess who seats you had a black eye - a full black eye.

Netflix has been criticised for releasing a new Matt Rife special. (Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)

"It wasn't like, 'What happened?' It was pretty obvious what happened. 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'."

Many people didn't find the joke funny at all, and Rife was heavily criticised for running with it.

He responded by saying he'd been 'testing the water, seeing if y'all are going to be fun or not'.

"I figured we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be pretty smooth sailing," Rife said of the audience's reaction to his joke.

"Of course I felt bad for her. She should have had her protection crystals, you know what I mean?"

The comedian later told the New York Times that he found the reaction to him 'insane'.

He said: "You’re mad at somebody that’s just trying to make you laugh? That’s such an insane concept to me."

And following the controversy, Netflix have been criticised for releasing another show, this time titled Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special.

The show is Netflix's first ever crowd work special. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

One person wrote on X: "You people have no taste or standards," while another shared a GIF that read: "That's a hard pass".

According to Netflix, the special sees Rife 'get up close and personal with an unpredictable Charlotte audience to riff on all things dreams'.

The show - out on Tuesday (13 August) - is Netflix's first ever crowd work special, which essentially means the content is created by conversations had with Rife.

It's not the first time Rife himself has produced crowd work, releasing his own special Walking Red Flag on YouTube last year.

LADbible has contacted Netflix and Matt Rife for comment.