Jerrod Carmichael reads Dave Chappelle over ‘childish’ anti-trans ‘jokes’: ‘That’s the legacy?’

Headshots of Jerrod Carmichael and Dave Chappelle

Gay comedian Jerrod Carmichael has said Dave Chappelle’s legacy will be a “bunch of opinions on trans s**t”.

Chappelle courted intense criticism in 2021 for telling so-called ‘jokes’ about trans people during his Netflix special, The Closer.

Ass much as Chappelle has cried “cancel culture” since The Closer dropped, he’s gone on to offend the trans community again and again.

Jerrod Carmicheal, 35, told GQ that he doesn’t buy into the “cancel culture” claims.

“Everybody’s got to create a boogeyman to sell tickets. But it’s not true,” he said.

“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**t? 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.”

Since being “cancelled” Chappelle has been nominated for a Grammy, had a theatre named after him and bagged even more Netflix shows.

And this irony certainly wasn’t lost on Carmichael.

Dave Chappelle in The Closer. (Netflix)

He said: “Who’s getting cancelled for what they’ve said? 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.

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

In his Netflix show, The Closer, Chappelle referred to himself as being on “Team TERF” before defending JK Rowling and DaBaby.

Despite Chappelle’s set igniting fierce backlash within Netflix – seeing trans and Black staff staging a defiant walkout – Netflix bosses have continued to defend him.

“Nobody would say that what he does isn’t thoughtful or smart,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said of Chappelle. “You just don’t agree with him.”

Sarandos told The New York Times that Netflix’s programming values “free expression” which means not all viewers are going to like it.

“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,” he added.

Netflix even updated its workplace guidelines to double down on support for controversial comedians like Chappelle.

“If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth,” the document reads, “Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

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