Jerrod Carmichael is shooting his shot. In the premiere episode of the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, the comedian confessed to falling for one of his longtime friends, Tyler, the Creator.
In the self-titled show, Carmichael recalled expressing his newfound romantic feelings to the rapper over text in 2021 — but the feelings weren’t mutual. In a six-second voice note response, Tyler laughed off his friend, calling the comedian a “stupid bitch.”
“One, it’s embarrassing, a little bit, and obviously [there’s] the fear of it being so totally unrequited,” Carmichael said of the rapper’s response.
Despite being ridiculed, Carmichael decided to try again in 2022, asking Tyler to be his date to the Emmy Awards. (That year, Carmichael took home the award for outstanding writing for a variety special for HBO’s Rothaniel.) As the episode counted down the days to the awards ceremony, Carmichael attempted to distract himself from the rapper’s lack of response to his invitation by going through a revolving door of Grindr hookups — some of which were even featured in the show.
“Part of me wants to play musical chairs on Grindr the day of,” Carmichael said ahead of the Emmys.
A couple days before the award ceremony, Tyler finally declined, leaving Carmichael to take a friend — who was identified as “anonymous” and shown wearing a ski mask and goggles — instead. Toward the end of the episode, Carmichael and Tyler sat down to discuss their friendship. The rapper explained that the news of the comedian’s feelings was “a lot to download” and said he viewed Carmichael more like family.
“Getting news like that and then avoiding it is a way to avoid change,” Tyler said. “That’s like a brother. That man’s like family. ”
In another intimate moment from the premiere episode, Carmichael shared a congratulatory voice message from his mom after winning his Emmy, despite his estrangement from his family over his sexuality. (Carmichael publicly came out as gay in Rothaniel.)
“It’s just really funny that me and my family aren’t really speaking, it’s over some gay shit, and then I win an award on television,” Carmichael said, “and like, ‘we still got to reach out.’”
Carmichael’s love life is a reccurring theme in the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, which follows the comedian from the standup stage to his childhood home in North Carolina, documenting deeply personal elements, including love, sex, infidelity, family conflict, and more across eight episodes. In the episode, Carmichael said he feels especially comfortable in front of the camera, so airing out his childhood trauma and detailing his sex addiction on screen doesn’t bother him.
But Carmichael’s friend “anonymous” is among the biggest critics of the comedian’s “exhibitionist” Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, saying his attempt to self-Truman Show himself through the series is “not truth.”
“There’s public and private,” anonymous said in the docuseries, “And then there’s masturbatorialy public.”
Still, Carmichael said that living his life out in front of the world is an attempt to keep him honest.
“I keep saying I want to live more truthfully, and I find myself alone a lot and I can’t tell if it’s because I’m afraid of telling the truth,” he said.
