Jerrod Carmichael feels remorse for publicly slamming Dave Chappelle over his consistent jokes about the transgender community in his previous stand-up specials.
“I deeply regret ever saying anything about Dave Chappelle to the press. I want to say that I’m sorry for that because one: I’m a huge Dave Chappelle fan. I love Dave. I think he’s brilliant,” Carmichael said during a sit-down interview with “The Breakfast Club” out Tuesday.
The “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” star went on to celebrate his fellow comedian by saying he’s a “bright light in a dying industry,” while adding that he respects his comedy elder’s craft and that he merely was speaking from a fan’s perspective.
“He’s one of the few artists that we have and I care deeply about the work that he makes,” Carmichael clarified. “With that said, the criticism that I had, had nothing to do with the morality of the joke, had nothing to do with the ethics of the jokes; that’s also something that’s been misreported. The criticism I had was that of a fan — someone who respects him so much that I want him to focus his genius on a wide range of topics. It started being really, really focused on one thing.”
He continued, “I’ll say this, I’m also a big fan of Jay-Z — if Jay-Z made three albums about trans people, I’d be like, ‘Hey, what’s going on with Jay?’”
In conclusion, Carmichael said he plans to reach out to Chappelle instead of sharing his thoughts with the media moving forward, saying, “From now on, any thoughts I have for Dave will be directed in a phone call to Dave. I’ll never do it again. I do apologize for that.” Starting now.
Carmichael’s apology comes nearly two years after his remarks about Chappelle, following jokes that were included in his specials “The Closer” and “The Dreamer.”
“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–t?,” he told GQ at the time. “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.”
