Comedian Matt Rife has been slammed over a domestic violence joke

A young and self-proclaimed “physically attractive” comedian has sparked backlash with his new Netflix special and one particularly “appalling” joke.

Viral comedian Matt Rife is getting cancelled by fans after making an “appalling” joke that left people “sickened” during his new Netflix comedy special.

To open his stand-up show, Natural Selection, which Rife previously said is aimed at men, he decided to try out a domestic violence joke.

He told a story about being served by a waitress in Baltimore with a black eye. The 28-year-old said he thought it was “obvious” what had happened to her, but he was surprised, considering her battered state, that she was still working.

“But we couldn’t get over, like, this is the face of the company? This is who you have greeting people?” he said.

Rife said that he and his mate felt terrible for her – and then came the punchlines at her expense.

“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.”

The comedian then explained he was testing the waters with that joke to see if the audience would be “fun”.

“I figured we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be pretty smooth sailing,” he said.

Matt Rife is a viral comedian who has a large online following. Picture: Netflix

He enraged many of his followers after joking about domestic violence. Picture: Instagram/MattRife

Rife is a social media darling who has amassed over 18 million followers on TikTok and found success in his comedy because of his viral fame.

With his bulging arm muscles, chiselled cheekbones, and floppy boy band hair, Rife has found a substantial female audience online. He’ll post videos of his jokes, and they’ll lavish him with praise and comment on his handsome looks.

It even got to the point where he claimed his looks were distracting viewers from his actual comedy material because “people don’t want to laugh at physically attractive people”.

Though the support of Gen Z women online has led to the rise in Rife’s fame, he has remained steadfast in rejecting the idea that he is a woman’s comedian.

He told Variety that he doesn’t “pander” his career to women and said his newly released Netflix special was made for men.

“I would argue this special is way more for guys,” he said.

He seems to standby the joke, despite the backlash. Picture: Instagram/MattRife

He has a huge following of Gen Z women. Picture: Netflix

Rife’s domestic violence joke led to colossal backlash but also division online and, overwhelmingly, it was women who were slamming the joke and men defending it.

TikTok creator Katie amassed over 200,000 views in a matter of hours after sharing that she decided to watch Rife’s special because she’d seen clips of him online and found him funny, but she had to stop watching after she heard his first joke.

“If the man thinks that opening joke is funny, I’m sure I’m not the first woman he has disappointed in less than three minutes,” she said.

Similarly, creator Kiera Breaugh called out the joke and the target audience it was intended for.

“Is this what he means by he made this for men? You want to make fun of domestic violence with men?” she asked.

Women are calling him out. Picture: Instagram/the.self.defense.girl

They don’t find it funny. Picture: TikTok/kierabreaugh

Online, women were enraged that Rife joked about such a horrifying issue.

One woman wrote that his “pretty privilege” shouldn’t be enough to excuse his jokes. Someone called it “painful” another said it was “appalling” someone else claimed she was “lost for words” over the crack.

“I’m genuinely trying to figure out how this can be spun as funny. Like he’s victim blaming?” a woman said.

One person branded the joke “sickening”, while another claimed it made her “nauseated”.

One woman even shared her personal story of domestic violence to explain why jokes like this aren’t funny.

“I once had to show up with bruises on my face to work after my ex stalked me. I had to go to work because I had three kids to feed! I was a server,” she wrote.

He has millions of TikTok followers. Picture: Instagram/MattRife

This was his first Netflix special. Picture: Instagram/MattRife

Yet, despite the outcry, there were people – many of them men – defending his domestic violence joke.

Plenty of men online declared that it was just a joke and therefore shouldn’t be taken seriously.

“Matt Rife gets a lot of hate because his audience can’t take a joke,” one person wrote,

“It is just a dark joke. I could see so many comics getting away with,” another reasoned.

One man wrote that people need to “relax” and accept this is comedy, with another praising Rife as a “good” comedian that just isn’t for everyone.

The comedian has responded to the controversy around the domestic violence joke by posting an Instagram story.

“If you’re offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology,” he wrote.

The link takes you to a place to purchase “special needs helmets” and there’s clearly no apology, just more controversial humour at the expense of vulnerable people.

In Australia, the rising issue of domestic violence is considered a national emergency, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that one in four women have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15.

The situation is so dire that one woman is killed by an intimate partner every week in Australia.

Originally published as Comedian Matt Rife has been slammed over a domestic violence joke