NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Dave Chappelle has signed a massive deal with Comedy Central that will return the comedian’s hit series to the network for two more seasons.

Sources familiar with the deal indicate it could be worth about $50 million, vaulting Chappelle, 30, into the rarefied realm of television’s top earners. The new contract is believed to mark not only a steep increase for Chappelle as star, writer, co-executive producer and co-creator of “Chappelle’s Show,” but more significantly, reward him with a hefty chunk of the series’ robust DVD sales.

Increasing the pressure on Comedy to close a megadeal with Chappelle was interest from other programers eager to tap his talents, including NBC Universal Television Group, according to sources, which ultimately deemed Chappelle too expensive. FX is said to have made an eight-figure offer to lure Chappelle to the network, but to no avail.

The deal also has implications beyond Comedy for Chappelle within the network’s parent company, Viacom, sources said. Another component sets up Chappelle with a multimillion-dollar deal at Paramount Pictures to star in an adaptation of the autobiography of Rick James, the funk veteran whom Chappelle has lampooned on “Chappelle’s Show.” He may also be tapped for a different film project.

In addition, the contract is said to establish a development deal for Chappelle’s production company, Pilot Boy Prods., with managing principal Mustafa Abuelhija. The pair already has a project under consideration at Comedy featuring “Chappelle’s Show” contributor Paul Mooney.

Also reaping the benefits of the deal was Chappelle’s longtime partner, Neal Brennan, a director, executive producer, co-creator and writer of the series. While terms of the deal for Brennan were not disclosed, it is one of the richest deals in basic cable for a multihyphenate.

“I knew we could continue at Comedy Central,” Brennan said. “We weren’t thinking of going anywhere else.”

Chappelle, who is vacationing in Paris, was not available for comment.

This cat has been making waves in the entertainment arena for a little while now and has made a name for himself as a funny man and has even had some starting roles in movies. With all of the recent bullshit with rape charges being brought up against brothers I would think that someone in his shoes would protect himself and just stay out of situations like this. You have to realize that there are a lot of scandolous females out there just looking to make a quick buck and will do anything in their power to get paid – Meanwhile fucking your life up in the process. For his sake I hope this shit aint true. I mean buddy has got a wife and kids too… Not only could his career be over, but he could possibly loose his family too. Now thats fucked up.

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Anderson, 33, and Wayne Witherspoon, 42, both of Los Angeles, California, were taken into custody Tuesday night after the woman reported the assault, said Steve Shular, Shelby County Sheriff’s Department public affairs officer.

Anderson was in Memphis shooting a movie titled “Hustle & Flow.” Witherspoon was working on the film’s crew.

Charges were filed against both men Wednesday afternoon. Shular said bond was expected to be set at $20,000 for each man.

They will be arraigned in General Sessions Court Thursday morning, according to Jennifer Donnals, communications director for the Shelby County district attorney’s office.

Shular said the crew had been shooting at the Shelby County Correctional Center, a “work farm” for jail inmates, and the assault allegedly occurred at the site after production ended Tuesday.

Shular said an extra told deputies that she was “lured into a production trailer” by Witherspoon. She told authorities that Anderson was already in the trailer and that both men sexually assaulted her, Shular said.

“Witnesses reported seeing the woman leave the trailer screaming and without her clothes,” Shular said.

The woman was taken to a hospital, but authorities would not say Wednesday if she had been released.

A spokesman for Anderson in Los Angeles released a brief statement Wednesday saying that the actor “absolutely denies the heinous charges that have been made against him.”

“Anthony is a happily married family man who has never been accused of — no less involved in — anything remotely like this, and we are confident that when all the facts come out, he will be completely exonerated,” the statement said.

Some trouble on the homefront for Russell Simmons.

The rap mogul’s wife, Kimora Lee Simmons, was arrested in Saddle River, New Jersey, Sunday night and charged with marijuana possession and reckless driving.

Simmons, 29, the dynamo designer of the Baby Phat fashion line and a fixture on America’s Next Top Model, was taken into police custody after she allegedly “made no attempt to stop” when officers spotted her driving with a faulty taillight.

Department spokesman Robert Breese says that officers finally caught up with Kimona when she arrived at the mansion she shares with her multimillionaire hubby.

A subsequent search of her vehicle turned up a small amount of pot and she was booked on possession of marijuana (less than 50 grams), careless driving, operating a vehicle while possessing a controlled substance, tailgating and having a taillight out.

Simmons, whose sultry naked bod graces a Times Square billboard, was handcuffed and taken to the station to be fingerprinted and have her mug shot taken.

The ex-model’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, who has represented such hip-hop superstars as Jay-Z and Shyne, defended her client in a statement today.

“It’s our perception that this is just another example of a prominent member of the hip hop community being made an example of,” Richman said. “The Simmons family is extremely involved in their community and this is an attempt to denigrate Kimora’s good name and that of her family. We deny any wrongdoing whatsoever.”

Russell Simmons brought his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network to the Democratic National Convention in Boston on Monday. About 2,000 people turned out as stars such as Wyclef Jean, Loon, Lloyd Banks and Bone Crusher urged them to register to vote.

The muzzled mouth of OutKast’s Andre 3000, who also was present at the Boston event, is adorning new public service ads by the nonpartisan group Declare Yourself, with the motto: “Only You Can Silence Yourself.” And Jadakiss, who raps about drug dealing, violence and other thuggery in his lyrics, is raising political issues in his new song “Why” and giving interviews about voting and getting the minimum wage raised.

“This is the collective conscious of hip-hop at work,” said hip-hop mogul Simmons, who over the past three years has enlisted superstars like Jay-Z, Beyonce, Eminem (news – web sites), Nelly and Ludacris as his group registered thousands of young black and Latino fans to vote.

“It’s a cultural snowball effect. We want people to feel like if you don’t vote you’re an idiot,” he told The Associated Press.

The idea of rap stars as political motivators may seem opposite the image projected by many of today’s rappers — a crowd that leans toward sex, violence, partying and the bling-bling lifestyle.

However, James Bernard, who organized the Hip-Hop Political Convention in Newark, N.J., earlier this year, points out rap’s long history of political muckraking, from KRS-One and Public Enemy in the mid-1980s to the current group dead prez.