Recently, Matt Rife found himself at the center of yet another social media controversy following the release of his Netflix comedy special, Natural Selection, on November 15, 2023. In the special, Rife tells a story of him and his friends visiting a restaurant in Baltimore. He explains that their female server had a black eye, and his friends started wondering why she wasn’t made to work in the kitchen so the customers wouldn’t have to see the black eye. Rife’s response, “Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye,” was heavily scrutinized online for making fun of something as serious as domestic violence.
Things only got worse when Rife posted an Instagram Story to “apologize” for his joke. “If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology,” he wrote, providing a link that read: “Tap to solve the issue.” However, instead of an apology, followers were redirected to a website selling special needs helmets. Naturally, the internet got riled up, and more of Rife’s past offensive jokes and behaviors started resurfacing. One that caught the most traction was his awkward exchange with Zendaya a few years ago, on an earlier episode of Wild ‘N Out.
The Premise of the Controversial Wild ‘N Out Episode
Wild ‘N Out is an MTV comedy improv show hosted by Nick Cannon. The show is known for its no-holds-barred humor and usually invites celebrity guests, have them play on one of the show’s two teams, and make them compete in a series of funny games. One of these games is called “Talking Spit.” The premise of the game will have the two team captains sit face to face with water in their mouths, and each of the team members will come and try to make the opposing team’s captain laugh and spit the water out. If the captain laughs, the other team gets a point.
In Wild ‘N Out Season 7, Episode 5, the guest stars were Zendaya and Ne-Yo. Keep in mind, this was all the way back in 2015 – Zendaya was only 18 and had just risen to fame after her role as Rocky Blue in Shake It Up. Because she was the captain of the Platinum Squad, when it came time to play Talking Spit, she took a sip of water and sat on the hot seat against Nick Cannon, who was the captain of the Black Squad.
Matt Rife Has a Tendency to Go Too Far Sometimes
Rife’s teammates were trying their hardest to make Zendaya laugh, but she kept a straight face the entire time. Then Rife came up on stage to give it a shot with the awkward line: “You’re mixed, I wanna be Black, let’s make a lifestyle movie.” Zendaya? Unimpressed. She just stares back at him with a stoic face. But then things quickly went downhill when Rife grabbed Zendaya’s face and said, “Spit that water out so I can get your number, please!”
Everyone got tense. Rife’s team members were on edge and silently mouthing, “Don’t touch her,” while Zendaya’s team quickly stepped up on stage because she was clearly uncomfortable. They started yelling at Rife, “Don’t be touching her like that, man!” and “She’s too young,” as Zendaya wagged her finger at Rife, showing her disapproval. Things then deescalated when Karlous Miller, who was on her team roasted Matt, “He got acne and his fingernails dirty,” which made Nick Cannon laugh, winning Zendaya and her team a point.
The Backlash: Then and Now
The awkward Wild ‘N Out moment didn’t go unnoticed. One of Rife’s own teammates later said, “That was definitely a bomb, not only a bomb for the audience, but everybody on the cast was like: ‘Woah, chill man.’” Another cast member remarked, “You lost that bro. Zendaya probably unfollowed you. You gotta shoot your shot off the camera so you don’t be embarrassed, man.” Fans even took to Twitter to express their discontent, with tweets like “Matt Rife, touch Zendaya one more time and you finna catch these hands.” And the backlash is only stronger now amid his Natural Selection controversy, especially on X (formerly Twitter). Rife, however, being a comedian, has a tendency, experience, and ability to carefully find his way around situations like these with better comic deliveries and smart apologies. Check out the scene below:
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