Jerrod Carmichael says Dave Chappelle is an “egomaniac” who wanted him to apologise for criticising his jokes about transgender people.
Carmichael, 36, first raised the idea that Chappelle, 50, might be tarnishing his comedic legacy by fixating on jokes about the transgender community in an interview with GQ magazine in 2022.
“Chappelle, do you know what comes up when you Google your name, bro?” Carmichael asked. “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*** are you? Who do you f***? What do you like to do?’”
He added: “Childish jokes aside, who the f*** are you? It’s just kind of played. But he’s choosing to die on the hill. So, alright, let him.”
In a new interview with Esquire, Carmichael revealed that Chappelle had joked about the younger comedian’s Emmy-winning stand-up special Rothaniel, during which he publicly came out as gay, by calling it “the bravest special for 1996”.
Carmichael added: “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.”
Jerrod Carmichael (left) and Dave Chappelle
He went on to say that Chappelle had seemingly bristled at being criticised for telling jokes about transgender people. “He took it as ‘F*** Dave Chappelle,’ because he’s an egomaniac. He wanted me to apologize to him publicly or some s***.”
Carmichael continued to say that Chappelle’s recent specials are “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”.
Earlier this week, Carmichael praised Tyler, the Creator for being open to discussing his unrequited love for the rapper on camera, saying “he was down for something chaotic”.
The comedian recently launched an unconventional HBO documentary series called Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show.
In the first episode, he explores the awkward situation in his personal life after he developed a crush on his best friend, rapper Tyler, the Creator, 33.
In a stand-up performance filmed for the premiere episode, Carmichael says: “I fell in love with my best friend. 1 out of 10, don’t recommend.”
In the Esquire interview, Carmichael praised Tyler for agreeing to be interviewed on camera about the subject. “I think that conversation is so wild and important, and I mostly have gratitude to him for doing it,” said the comedian. “It’s a conversation that’s never happened before on TV, and he knows that I’m insane, I guess, so he was down for something chaotic.”
