Charlamagne Tha God's late-night show Tha God’s Honest Truth has returned to Comedy Central for the second season with a new format and new name, Hell of a Week.
The first episode that premiered in July tackled issues surrounding toxic masculinity, equal pay for women, clemency for people serving long sentences for cannabis, among other matters.
The American media personality, the host and one of the executive producers of the show, spoke to TshisaLIVE about his comeback, saying his hilarious and unfiltered take on buzzing topics is his way of educating while entertaining.
“My mission is always to get the right messaging out there to people that can help people ... anything that makes us smarter. My goal is always to educate and entertain. Laugh and learn with anything that I am a part of,” he said.
Charlamagne Tha God, real name Lenard McKelvey, has been in the entertainment industry for more than two decades and is expected to receive his first lifetime achievement award in October this year.
On his rise to stardom, Charlamagne was popular for his unfiltered spirit that would always spark controversy.
He's since learnt to use his platform responsibly as he's grown older but admits he is aware he is not immune to the “cancel culture” wave.
“Cancel culture is more like outrage culture — you say something that causes a group of people to just be upset about something and they express it, and that happens to everybody.
“The truth to the matter is, we need to start learning more of grace culture, because cancel culture is not sustainable at some point — it will be your turn. If you talk for a living, if you write for a living, if put out any type of art or opinion to the world for a living.”
While shedding light on issues around the world, he says he wants to engage in a progressive conversation of finding solutions too.
“I care about being known as a person who is of service. Serving other people.”
Speaking of changes to hip-hop iHeart Radio programme The Breakfast Club , with Angela Yee leaving to launch her own show soon and Charlamagne continuing to co-host alongside DJ Envy after nearly 12 years, Charlamagne said he’s looking forward to seeing how the show evolves.
“The thing about Angela Yee is that she’s irreplaceable. But The Breakfast Club will definitely expand. There will be other members joining at some point, but I don’t see that any time soon.
“If you ask me, I imagine a year from now ... somebody or a couple of people permanently in that spot. We will be rotating different guest hosts and see which one sticks. I look forward to moving the culture of radio forward.”
