Stand-up comic Jerrod Carmichael has been feuding with industry veteran Dave Chappelle again over his past remarks. The Emmy Award-winning comic had previously criticized Chappelle over his anti-trans jokes in his Netflix special The Closer. The special had come under fire due to the remarks and had prompted widespread criticisms.
Carmichael, who came out as gay in his HBO special Rothaniel, spoke about how Chappelle had made comments on his special as well, which had received accolades and praises from fans. Carmichael mentioned that Chappelle was not happy with his criticism and had expected him to publicly apologize.
Jerrod Carmichael On Dave Chappelle’s Anti-Trans Jokes
Jerrod Carmichael took the world by storm when his brave comedy special Rothaniel was released. The HBO special saw him come out as gay publicly for the first time and received multiple accolades. The show also won him a Primetime Emmy Award for writing and he even guest-hosted Saturday Night Live, for which he was nominated as well.
Carmichael’s special came after Dave Chapelle’s controversial Netflix special The Closer. The veteran comedian came under fire for his anti-trans jokes on the special, which even reportedly prompted Netflix employees to stage a walkout in protest. Netflix CEO Ted Sorandos had reportedly defended the comedian’s statements, calling it artistic freedom (via Variety).
Carmichael criticized Chapelle’s jokes in an interview with GQ,
“I’m tired of hearing it. Chappelle, do you know what comes up when you Google your name, bro? That’s the legacy? Your legacy is a bunch of opinions on trans s*it? It’s an odd hill to die on. And it’s like, hey, bro. Who the f*ck are you? Who do you f*ck? What do you like to do? Childish jokes aside, who the f*ck are you? It’s just kind of played.”
Chappelle seemed to have revisited the topic despite the backlash in his latest Netflix special The Dreamers. While he only mentioned the controversy at the beginning of the show, he went on to make a few jokes about the topic before saying that he would be repairing his relationship with the community.
The special received immense criticism from fans and audiences alike. The show received a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes and was criticized for taking unwanted segways to the trans jokes topic. The comedian brought up the topic multiple times for various punchlines. A Reddit user called the show ‘hot garbage’ and said that there were no pay-offs to the setups given in the special. Others in the post also spoke about how the comedian was targeting a community for no reason.
Jerrod Carmichael Calls Dave Chappelle An Egomaniac
After his statements in GQ magazine about Dave Chappelle, Jerrod Carmichael seemed to have locked horns with the comedian again. He mentioned in a recent interview with Esquire magazine that Chappelle was not happy with his criticisms of the veteran and that he thought that it was a personal attack on him rather than the issues that he chose to make fun of. Carmichael said,
“[He] not revealing anything personal about himself and he’s removed from what he’s talking about, and I think he’s smarter than that and deeper than that and has more interesting thoughts. He took it as ‘F*ck Dave Chappelle,’ because he’s an egomaniac. He wanted me to apologize to him publicly or some s*it.”
Jerrod Carmichael also mentioned that Chappelle made fun of his special and was sarcastic about his response to the acclaim Rothaniel received. Carmichael said that Chappelle called the special “brave for 1996” which the comic mentioned was still proving his point.
“[Chappelle] referred to it as the bravest special for 1996. And it’s like, that’s a funny enough line, whatever, but I wonder if he gets the irony that the fact that you are mocking it even then is why it was hard…so much of comedy is just gay jokes.”
Carmichael also mentioned how jokes on the topic still scared him.
Jerrod Carmichael’s latest reality documentary series Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show is streaming on HBO Max.
