Typically, I like my humor like I like my wine, dry AF. So you would think Jerrod Carmichael’s brand of comedy would be right up my alley. Not so much.
Some may remember Carmichael hosting last year’s Golden Globes Awards to mixed reviews, so I’m not alone in thinking this.
Maybe I just don’t relate to the guy. Maybe I think he comes across too boring, aloof and arrogant. Maybe I’m still a bit peeved about his seemingly homophobic jokes in his first HBO standup special.
To each his own. Someone out there likes the man enough to keep giving him his own self titled TV shows. And apparently those men appear to be White men based on the trailer for this new reality show.
Obviously I have no problem with interracial dating, I’ve written about it here ad nauseam in the past. But after the section of him kissing a series of White men followed by Tyler the Creator popping up (another Out gay celeb who only dates White men) I doubted that I would watch this series and suddenly begin to find Carmichael relatable to me.
But that may be the point. This may not be for me. I’m a Black gay man that is attracted to various types, not just one. This may be for the specific Black guy who struggles with his Black family about his love for White men. Love is love, amirite?
I have mixed feelings about this. Allow me to explain why. I watched his televised stand up comedy show where he came out as gay to his audience. I think it was titled "Rothaniel". I commend him for having the courage to do that but you can still see that he was still internally struggling with it…a lot. So, I somewhat empathize with him for putting himself out there like that especially since I'm not brave enough to come out yet myself.
On the other hand, I never fully understood why some black people exclusively only date white people. In college, there were also some black students who never hung out with other black people. I fully support interracial dating but I only have a problem with someone refusing to consider their own race for both platonic and romantic relationships.
Franky, I will speak towards the last part of your post to say that even within a racial community we're not all ethnically or culturally the same. In the USA melting pot, many things have gotten blended together that probably shouldn't be & thus you get blacks that were raised outside blk culture & community or were taught to see/look outside of it. We have black folk who identify more as American than descended from slavery Black & that is along a (social) spectrum. So I don't think Jerod doesn't find black men/people attractive/dateable or got self esteem issues. He just americanized (we all are to some extent) & like what he like when he likes it/physical attraction is funny, specific developmental thing (just like the rest of us)