“Comedian” Matt Rife is rightfully under fire for clips in his new Netflix stand-up “Natural Selection” surrounding domestic violence. 

For context, Rife said he entered a restaurant and the hostess had a black eye. He said he knew where the black eye came from, insinuating that someone purposely had given that to her. He then went on to make a joke about how he didn’t want someone with a black eye representing the restaurant, and she needed to go back to the kitchen so no one saw her. If that wasn’t already offensive and insensitive enough, Rife then continued on and made a joke saying if she knew how to cook in the kitchen maybe she wouldn’t have gotten the black eye in the first place.

Many people did not find this “joke” funny, so Rife quickly received backlash from viewers. After being under fire, he posted a public “apology” on his Instagram story stating, “If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told — here’s a link to my official apology,” which included a link to a medical site that sells helmets for persons with disabilities. Not only is Rife poking fun at domestic violence victims, but he is also blatantly making fun of people with persons with disabilities. Instead of doing the right thing by apologizing and taking accountability for his actions, Rife created a bigger problem.

Now you can see why I put “comedian” in quotes. Where is the line drawn with people in this industry? Think of it, in today’s age, cancel culture is very prevalent, so I can see Rife becoming cancelled for his lack of sensitivity to both survivors of domestic violence and people with disabilities. If Taylor Swift made a totally insensitive comment about domestic violence, she would go under fire quickly, so why is it deemed okay for comedians to push the boundaries of what is funny and what is strictly offensive? 

For Rife to have a comedy special be featured on Netflix, where millions of people can watch, I feel it is not okay to carelessly joke about domestic violence so lightly. It is just simply wrong. Why is he not being held accountable? Just because you are a self-proclaimed “comedian,” does not mean you can say whatever you want and think it will slide because that’s how your industry works.

My question is who approved of these jokes? Rife has to have a public relations and management team. Why were these jokes deemed “appropriate?” Also, why were these jokes allowed to be publicized and aired through Netflix? Truthfully, I believe Netflix is just as responsible for letting these “jokes” be televised as much as Rife and his team are for creating them. There is a reason that Rife’s team has refused to comment on multiple requests for comment- don’t you think?

Where will this careless behavior lead? I’m not sure, but I really do hope that he receives backlash from his audience and non-fans which leads him to care and take ownership of what he says in the future. As of now, Rife is acting a little too careless for my liking, which I believe is a shield against being canceled. I hope his shield eventually wears down and he apologizes to people affected by domestic violence as a whole and persons with disabilities for making these insensitive comments relating to these two groups of individuals.