Jerrod Carmichael Says “Slave Play” Joke Was Taken Out of Context: “It Has Nothing to Do With Sex”

The comedian reacts to the backlash surrounding the controversial joke.

via: THR

In a recent episode of the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, the comedian said:

“My boyfriend, he makes me smarter, he makes me read. I have so many books. Realistically I’m not gonna read all those books. He knows that. But the fact that I bought them says I love you. They’re little monuments around my apartment, just like, ‘Look at this book from Amazon that I’m never gonna read.’”

He then added, “I sometimes joke to him that our relationship is like that of a slave and a master’s son — who, like, teaches me how to read by candlelight.”

In the episode, which was during a live stand-up show, the joke seemed to fall flatter than Carmichael expected, with some people in the audience groaning and hissing. “Yeah, he groans too ’cause he’s a good person,” he replied, about his boyfriend. “He doesn’t like that fucking joke. I like that joke. That’s my burden, I think that shit’s hilarious!”

Carmichael then saw backlash when some viewers called out the controversial idea of race-based sexual slave play.

During an appearance on The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious and Charlamagne Tha God that was shared on Tuesday (below), Carmichael clarified the joke, which he said was covered from the punch line on and missed the setup.

“I really don’t like that,” he said on the morning talk show. “It made it seem like I was talking like I’m into some type of race, sexual slavery role play with my boyfriend, which is untrue. It’s so false.”

He continued, “It has nothing to do with my boyfriend. It has nothing to do with the sex that we have. It has nothing to do with sex. It’s something people have been reporting on. It’s about my boyfriend reading so much, he makes me feel insecure about my level of reading.”

Carmichael said that, because he has a white boyfriend, people try to create some “crazy story out of that.” He noted it’s a small group, including some “gay Black men” and “some Ku Klux Klan members who don’t like that I have a white boyfriend.”

He added, “He’s a human being. He deserves respect. I deserve respect. I don’t appreciate things being misreported or said about him in that way. It’s completely false, so I don’t like that.”

When Charlamagne Tha God pushed back and noted it was still not a good joke, Carmichael said that he’s been a comedian for a long time, and he thinks it’s funny.

“I’m talking about my own personal insecurity. I’m an educated person. I’m usually the smartest person in the room. He reads so much, it makes me feel like, ‘Oh, do I even know how to read?’ That joke works if I had a Black boyfriend. If my boyfriend were Black, that joke actually works better.”

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