‘I’m here because I’m black’

Jerrod Carmichael revealed the reason he believes he was chosen to host the 2023 Golden Globes.

The 35-year-old funnyman opened the NBC broadcast Tuesday by casually taking a seat on the stage to “catch the room up” on the award show’s controversy.

“I’m here because I’m black,” Carmichael bluntly launched into a monologue touching on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s problems with lack of diversity.

“This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which I won’t say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single black member until George Floyd died,” he explained. “So do with that information what you will.”

The former “Carmichael Show” star added that he was at home drinking tea when he got a call from a producer to host the show.

“One minute you’re making mint tea at home, the next, you’re invited to be the black face of an embattled white organization,” he joked to a weary audience.

He also congratulated the “six new black members” that the HFPA added to its voting committee.

NBC abruptly pulled the plug on airing the awards last year, citing the need for “meaningful reform” by the embattled HFPA.

“We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform. However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right,” the network said in a statement at the time, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“As such, NBC will not air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023.”

Later in Tuesday’s awards ceremony Carmichael quipped to Globe-nominated director Steven Spielberg: “I saw ‘The Fablemans’ with Kanye. It changed everything for him.”

Of course, Carmichael’s wisecracks are what got him the 2023 hosting gig in the first place. 

“His comedic talents have entertained and thrilled audiences while providing thought-provoking moments that are so important in the times we live,” HFPA president Helen Hoehne said in a statement in December. 

“Jerrod is the special kind of talent this show calls for to kick off the awards season,” she added. 

Carmichael did not reference the infamous Will Smith Oscars slap his Golden Globes act, but did in his April 2022 “Saturday Night Live” monologue.

“I’m not gonna talk about it,” Carmichael said during his speech. “I kept talking about it, you can’t make me talk about it. Do you want to talk about it? Aren’t you sick of talking about it?”

“Doesn’t it feel like it happened years ago?” he asked about the incident, which occurred on March 27, 2022. “Doesn’t it feel like it happened when we were all in high school? It feels like it happened somewhere between Jamiroquai and 9/11. It feels like we’ve been living in the wake of it our whole lives.”