With a rocky debut to his Netflix special and questionable responses to his backlash, more resurfaced clips have painted Matt Rife in a bad light.
In recent turns of events, it is now a clip from 2015 that has emerged again online, where the comedian appeared to have behaved in an inappropriate manner with none other than Zendaya.
The 28-year-old was frequently featured on the MTV show Wild ’n Out, and as such, he appeared in one episode, alongside the Spider-Man star.
At the time, Matt had been challenged to make Zendaya spit out the water that she was holding in her mouth by trying to make her laugh, in a bid to make his team score points and win.
A resurfaced clip showing Matt Rife grabbing Zendaya’s face has sparked more backlash against the comedian
Image credits: mattrife
Image credits: zendaya
The actress was 18 years old at the time and had just risen to global success as a Disney Channel star for her role as Rocky Blue in Shake It Up.
As Zendaya was maintaining an unbothered composure, Matt could be seen in the segment trying to wind her up as he stated: “Hey Zendaya, I’m Nick Cannon.
“Nah, f*ck that, I’m Matt motherfucking Rife, alright!”
As he progressively approached the actress, who was sitting in a chair, he went on to say: “You’re mixed, I wanna be Black, let’s make a lifestyle movie.”
In 2015, Matt and Zendaya competed against each other on the MTV show Wild ’n Out
Image credits: Wild 'N Out
Image credits: Wild 'N Out
Upon Zendaya's total silence and stoic stance, Matt proceeded to grab her chin and exclaimed: “Spit that water out so I can get your number please!”
Matt’s gesture was quickly interrupted by Zendaya’s teammate, who launched to her defense as he erupted: “Don’t be touching her like that, man!”
The Euphoria actress displayed disapproval as she wagged her finger at the comedian, in an attempt to deny his advances.
Matt went on to double down by saying: “I didn’t touch her — she can handle herself!”
Zendaya expressed her disapproval when the comedian suddenly touched her face during the challenge
Image credits: Wild 'N Out
Image credits: Wild 'N Out
Nevertheless, Matt’s own teammates expressed discontentment with the comedian’s behavior, as he announced in a confessional afterward: “That was definitely a bomb, not only a bomb for the audience but everybody on the cast was like: ‘Woah, chill man.’”
With the segment resurfacing and becoming viral on Monday (November 20), neither Matt nor Zendaya has made a public acknowledgment of the clip, but fans have had loads to say about it since.
You can watch the resurfaced segment below:
A person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Had I known Matt Rife was the same guy on Wild 'n Out that touched Zendaya’s face, I would’ve instantly hated him.”
Another X user penned: “Totally forgot Matt Rife was on Wild 'n Out and made the weird comments to Zendaya. It's all starting to make sense now.”
A separate individual chimed in: “Known Matt Rife was trash since he touched Zendaya’s face on Wild ‘N Out without her consent.”
"I knew Matt Rife was a red flag when he was on wild and out with Zendaya," a person commented.
People online condemned Matt's actions
Matt's new Netflix special stirred up outrage as a result of controversial jokes, including one about domestic violence
Image credits: mattrife
Matt Rife has been hit with a surge of backlash as a result of his new Netflix special, Natural Selection, which many viewers have described as upholding sexist bias and misogynistic depictions.
In the stand-up show, which was released on the streaming platform last week, Matt is seen opening with a segment about Washington DC, the place where the special was filmed, and the differences between “ratchet” Baltimore and “beautiful” Maryland.
In the comedy special, Matt said that if a woman "could cook, she wouldn't have a black eye"
Image credits: Netflix
He says: “I’ve only been to Baltimore one time, and the hostess who seats you had a black eye.”
“A full black eye. 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.'”
Whilst some audience members gasped in shock, the 28-year-old comedian continued: “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.
“Of course, I felt bad for her.
“She should have had her protection crystals, you know what I mean?”
Matt goes on to engage in a lengthy segment focused on “crystal girls” and women who attribute their “poor decision-making skills” to astrology.
The comedian’s response to all the adverse reactions he has been receiving since has sparked more outrage.
The link led to a medical shop website’s page for “special needs helmets,” prompting people to call out the comedian’s ableism.
The comedian went on to post a link to his “official apology” on his Instagram story
Image credits: mattrife
Drew Afualo, famous for her feminist activism on TikTok, has released a response to Matt’s controversial Netflix special in a video: “In case anyone’s curious, no I’m not f*cking surprised.
“You’re telling me a man who goes on other people’s podcasts and openly objectifies and criticizes women’s bodies is misogynistic? Yeah, no sh*t.”
People called Matt an ableist for leading his followers to a medical shop website’s page for “special needs helmets"
Image credits: mattrife
The 28-year-old influencer went on to liken Matt’s “jokes” to scrolling through a “white uncle’s racist Facebook page” and challenged his supposed on-purpose attempt to alienate his female fans.
She continued: “If you want to appeal to exclusively misogynistic men, you are mediocre and couldn’t afford veneers.
“Or maybe you’re not that f*cking funny. At least not to me personally. But what would I know?
“I’m just an astrology-obsessed, crystal-loving, f*cking dumb *ss b*tch on the internet.”
Plenty of people came together in agreement about Matt's comedy
