Jerrod Carmichael has made a living through choosing his words carefully — and he’s not mincing them about Dave Chappelle.
The comedian and star of the newly debuted Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, who came out as gay in his 2022 HBO special, Rothanial, doubled down on his stance about Chappelle and his jokes about the LGBTQ+ community.
In a new interview with Esquire, the 36-year-old performer addressed his own remaining discomfort with calling himself gay, pointing to the behavior of his own industry as a reason why.
“I still think saying you’re gay is saying something’s wrong with you,” he tells the magazine. “And so much of comedy is just gay jokes. As long as people continue to laugh at it and mock it, and as long as it’s a punchline, it’s going to be scary for somebody. It’s scary for me.”
That’s when he raised the subject of Chappelle, noting that the veteran comedian referred to Carmichael’s special, Rothanial, as “the bravest special for 1996.”
Rebuffed Carmichael, “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.”
If there was a question of contention between the fellow comedians, Carmichael made it crystal clear with his latest comments, referring to Chappelle as an “egomaniac” and doubling down on his past criticism of him after his controversial 2021 Netflix special, The Closer.
Back in 2022, Carmichael told GQ, “I think, a lot of times, people who offer nothing truthful or meaningful about themselves then complain about society at large and create this boogeyman. It’s like, listen, that’s the most urgent thing in your life? God bless you. 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’s an odd hill to die on. And it’s like, hey, bro. Who the f**k are you? Who do you f**k? What do you like to do? Childish jokes aside, who the f**k are you? It’s just kind of played. But he’s choosing to die on the hill. So, alright, let him.”
Recalling those comments now, Carmichael tells Esquire, “I said he’s 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.”
But, according to the Poor Things actor, that’s allegedly not how it all came off to Chappelle — and he was apparently looking for Carmichael to say sorry.
“He took it as f**k Dave Chappelle, because he’s an egomaniac,” Carmichael tells Esquire. “He wanted me to apologize to him publicly or some s**t.”
After more than a decade in Hollywood, Carmichael’s comedy is not being ignored. In fact, not only is he being heard, but also rewarded. His revelatory HBO special earned him his first Emmy Award in 2022 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. That same year, he hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time — which garnered another Emmy nod for him — and went on to emcee the 2023 Golden Globes.
“I was happy. It was nice. It was actually nice,” Carmichael previously told 360aproko of his Emmy win. “Honestly, you know what makes it feel good is that it’s heavy… It’s actually heavy and it feels substantial.”
