Matt Rife Faces Backlash Over Domestic Violence Joke & 'Apology'

Transcript

00:00 Matt Rife is facing backlash.

00:03 The comedian who rose to fame on TikTok sparked controversy by telling a joke about domestic

00:09 violence in his new Netflix special, Natural Selection.

00:13 The 28-year-old started the special, which was filmed in Washington D.C., by telling

00:17 a story about the time he saw a hostess with a black eye at a Baltimore restaurant.

00:21 "I've only been to Baltimore one time.

00:24 I ate lunch there and the hostess who like seats you at the restaurant had a black eye.

00:29 A full black eye.

00:30 And it wasn't like, 'What happened?'

00:31 It was pretty obvious what happened.

00:32 And we couldn't get over the fact that we were like, 'This is the face of the company?

00:38 Like this is who you have greeting people?'

00:41 And my boy who I was with was like, 'Yeah, I feel bad for her, man.

00:44 I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face,

00:50 you know?'

00:51 And I was like, 'Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn't have that black

00:54 eye.'

00:55 So…"

00:59 Bryce then tells the audience that the joke was just him "testing the waters" seeing

01:03 if y'all are going to be fun or not.

01:05 "I just wanted to see.

01:08 I figured if we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be pretty

01:14 smooth sailing after that.

01:16 Yeah, of course I felt bad for her, man.

01:20 She should have had her protection crystals, you know what I mean?"

01:23 After the joke ignited controversy all over social media, Rife took to his Instagram stories

01:28 to issue a joke apology.

01:30 "If you've ever been offended by a joke I've told, here's a link to my official apology.

01:36 Tap to solve the issue," he wrote.

01:39 The link that Rife included takes followers to a website selling products described as

01:44 quote "special needs helmets" for children and adults.

01:49 Access Hollywood has reached out to Rife's team for comment.

02:05 (upbeat music)