Jerrod Carmichael Race Play Joke Controversy

Overview

Jerrod Carmichael Race Play Joke Controversy refers to a contentious joke told by American comedian Jerrod Carmichael about race-based role-playing with his white boyfriend in which he said, "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." The joke was told on HBO's Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, sparking a viral debate on Black Twitter in early April 2024 from those who saw it as problematic.

Background

On April 7th, 2024, the second episode of HBO's Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show aired on TV. In a particular moment of the episode, Carmichael shared with his audience that he's into "race play," joking that his relationship with this white boyfriend "is like that of a slave and a master's son … who, like, teaches me how to read by candlelight." On the same day, X^[1] user @His_Majesty13 posted the scene (shown below) and criticized him, garnering more than 806,000 views and 1,300 likes in three days.

Online Reactions

After the reality TV show episode aired, many X users started to criticize Carmichael's race play joke. For example, on April 8th, 2024, X^[2] user @Freexone_ posted a clip from the Chewing Gum comedy series of a character doing a race play gag, pairing with the caption "Jerrod Carmichael with his boyfriend in the bedroom." The post (shown below) amassed more than 22,000 likes and 2,600 retweets in three days.

On April 9th, 2024, TikTok user @royce.wynner^[3] posted a video commenting on the race play joke controversy, amassing roughly 22,000 plays and 288 likes in a day. On the same day, TikTok^[4] user @pejayeugene also voiced his opinions on Jerrod Carmichael's controversial joke, garnering over 307,000 plays and 39,000 likes in a day.

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References