Jerrod Carmichael Regrets Criticizing Dave Chappelle to the Press, Says He’s ‘More Important Than Ever’ and ‘I Want Him to Focus His Genius’ Away From Trans Jokes
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jerrod Carmichael appeared on a recent episode of “The Breakfast Club” (via Rolling Stone) and said: “I deeply regret saying anything about Dave Chappelle to the press.
I want to say that I’m sorry for that.” Carmichael previously gave interviews to Esquire and GQ in which he criticized Chappelle’s legacy of making jokes about transgender people.
Carmichael now noted that his frustration with Chappelle had only to do with the comedian repeatedly making jokes about the same topic and not the morality of the jokes themselves.
Carmichael called Chappelle “brilliant” and “a bright light in a dying industry,” noting that Chappelle is “more important than ever before” because stand-up comedy is dominated by comedians “just posting clips of them doing crowd work online and calling it art, and it’s not art.” “Dave Chappelle is an artist — he’s one of the few artists that we have — and I care deeply about the work that he makes,” Carmichael said. “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 joke …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.
