Jerrod Carmichael Slams Dave Chappelle Over Transgender Jokes

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael is not okay with the transphobic jokes that Dave Chappelle made during his hit Netflix comedy special “The Closer.”

Although Chappelle has the support of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Carmichael doesn’t seem to have a lot of support in his corner. In fact, he told GQ that when he came out as gay during his HBO special “Rothaniel,” the only person who reached out to him was his 15-year-old niece.

Back in April, Carmichael came out as gay during his HBO special. He told the audience that he had a “secret” he had been keeping “from my father, my mother, my family, my friends, and you. Professionally, personally. And the secret is that I'm gay.”

He said that he only got one text after he came out from his niece, which read, “I see you. I hear you.”

Although he didn’t get the outpouring of support he might have expected, Carmichael said, “I love this generation,” adding, “I actually f--- with them, and f--- all those comedians that are going so hard against them.”

One comedian that he called out specifically was Dave Chappelle, now 48.

“Chappelle, do you know what comes up when you Google your name, bro?” he asked. “That’s the legacy? Your legacy is a bunch of opinions on trans s---?”

“It's an odd hill to die on,” Carmichael noted. “And it's like, hey, bro. Who the f--- are you? Who do you f---? What do you like to do? 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.”

According to ET,  Dave Chappelle said he identifies as “Team TERF” and said that “gender is a fact” during “The Closer” Netflix comedy special. After significant backlash, Chappelle declared that he had been “canceled,” although he has continued to perform around the world, making appearances at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival, the Bob Saget tribute special that was released last Friday, and even opening for “Saturday Night Live” alum John Mulaney.

Jerrod Carmichael took issue with Chappelle referring to himself as a victim of cancel culture.

“Who’s getting canceled for what they’ve said?” he asked. “What does that mean, that people are mad on Twitter? Everybody’s fine. These grown men are fine.”

“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,” he continued. “It’s like, listen, that’s the most urgent thing in your life? God bless you.”

Earlier this year, during a New York Times interview with Maureen Dowd, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he was surprised by the backlash that Chappelle received for his comedy special.

Sarandos insisted that Netflix is "programming for a lot of diverse people who have different opinions and different tastes and different styles, and yet we’re not making everything for everybody. We want something for everybody, but everything’s not going to be for everybody."

Sarandos also doubled down on his support for Dave Chappelle, saying that standing behind the comedian "wasn’t hard in that way."

He indicated that "rarely do you get the opportunity to put your principles to the test."

"It was an opportunity to take somebody, like in Dave’s case, who is, by all measure, the comedian of our generation, the most popular comedian on Netflix for sure," Sarandos continued. "Nobody would say that what he does isn’t thoughtful or smart. You just don’t agree with him."