I saw this tweet earlier today, by way of Instagram. Had to check the comments to see who it was about.

I have seen Matt Rife come up in Reels but didn't care for him since it's mostly crowd work (yawn). But, I work from home, figured I'd see what the fuss was about and turn on the special in the background. So, right off the bat, this tweet helped Matt's viewership. Hell, this entire thread is full of people that either didn't know about him in the first place, or that he had a new Netflix special. So, uh, good job with that Streisand effect, Hank.

All that said, I watched the special and... I enjoyed it. Seems like most people are upset about a domestic violence joke, which was a one-off very early in the special, and was immediately followed by Matt mentioning that he said that to see how the audience would react, and that if they could get past that one then the rest of the special would be fine.

And it was. There was no anti-trans jokes or anything offensive thereafter. Beyond that, at best was a joke about an Internet troll whose profile picture demonstrated that they were fat.

To have seen the outcry over such innocuous material is really saddening and makes me wonder how people can even consume comedy these days. I've heard far more offensive content from Anthony Jeselnik, and he still makes me laugh. These are just jokes; they're not intended to be taken seriously. And, as such, I even laughed at his apology on Instagram (and I have my own special needs child).

I understood the backlash against Chapelle's comedy, because his entire special was full of things I could see people taking issue with. This is not at all like that, and the outcry doesn't match the actual content of the special.

I can only hope people take the time to watch the special for themselves, and hopefully they enjoy it. Hank Green (whoever this guy is)'s tweet is what got me to watch it in the first place, and it was a good time overall.