This Is What Happened Between Matt Rife And Zendaya Back In 2015, And Why It Is Circulating Now

What does Zendaya have to do with Matt Rife? Well, strap in, because here's the full story.

In the age of TikTok and Twitter (or should we say X), things from your past have a habit come back to haunt you. Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's newest love interest, knows that all too well after a series of his (very silly) tweets from 2011 began making the rounds. Or just take that old clip of Lady Gaga being asked sexist questions by an interviewer that went viral earlier this year. Now, there's another old video that's come back from the past to generate a lot of discourse.

Allow us to set the scene: back in 2015, comedian Matt Rife (now best-known for his successful Netflix documentary) and Zendaya (now best-known for — well — being an absolute queen of the film and TV industry) both appeared on the game show Wild 'N Out. On the show, contestants were split into two teams. One person from each time had to hold water in their mouths, while members of the other team tried to make them laugh.

In a clip from the episode posted on TikTok, Matt's methods of trying to make Zendaya laugh have made some people just a little uncomfortable.

“Look, you’re mixed, I want to be Black, let’s make a lifestyle movie,” Matt says to Zendaya, who smiles, but doesn't laugh.

Then, Matt grabs her face, saying, "Spit that water out so I can get your number, please.”

Her teammates leap to their feet, telling Matt not to touch her. “I didn't touch her," he screams as Zendaya wags a finger in his face.

Although the incident ended with laughter (Zendaya won the competition, by the way), at the time, Matt's teammates seemed to realise that his behaviour was out of line. “That was definitely a bomb, not only a bomb for the audience but everybody on the cast was like: ‘Woah, chill man,’” one said of the incident later on the show.

In hindsight, the moment looks even weirder than ever to fans.

“totally forgot matt rife was on wild 'n out and made the weird comments to zendaya. it's all starting to make sense now,” one wrote on Twitter.

Another wrote, “had I known matt rife was the same guy on wild n out that touched zendaya’s face, I would’ve instantly hated him.”

Why does it all make sense? Well, let's put it this way — Matt Rife isn't exactly the most popular at the moment thanks to a controversial “joke” about domestic abuse in his new Netflix special.

In the special, he speaks about taking a flight where the air stewardess had a black eye.

“A full black eye. It wasn't like, 'What happened?' It was pretty obvious what happened,” he said. “But we couldn't get over, like, this is the face of the company? This is who you have greeting people?”

He went on, "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.’”

Unsurprisingly, the tasteless comments drew a lot of backlash.

The charity Women's Aid even chimed in condemning Rife, writing, “Domestic abuse is no joke. Conversation about @mattrife shows many people do not understand the severity of domestic abuse, & the impact these ‘jokes’ have on women feeling able to reach out for support. The shocking truth is 3 women a fortnight are killed by their partner or ex.”

To make matters worse, Rife made a yet another off-colour joke in his (fake) apology.

In an Instagram story, the comedian wrote, “If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology," next to a link with the text, “Tap to solve the issue.” The link led to a health website that sells “special needs helmets”.

His comments and apology are deeply insensitive and, as Women's Aid notes, potentially actively harmful.

So, what does Zendaya have to do with all of this? Well, it seems that many people are now viewing the old clip of the pair on Wild ‘N Out as ‘proof’ of Rife's sexist brand of comedy. Perhaps we all should have seen it coming sooner.

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