Lenard McKelvey (born June 29, 1980), known professionally as Charlamagne Tha God, is an American radio presenter and television personality. He is a co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy and Angela Yee, and stars in Guy Code, Guy Court and Girl Code. He is also a VJ for The Week in Jams with DJ Envy and Sofi Green. In 2015, Charlamagne began hosting the MTV2 show Uncommon Sense. He was previously on The Wendy Williams Experience with Wendy Williams on VH1.
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Early life
McKelvey was born to Larry Thomas McKelvey and his wife on June 29, 1980, and grew up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. As a teenager, McKelvey began selling drugs, and was arrested twice for possession of marijuana and cocaine with intent to distribute. After witnessing a shooting from the back seat of a car, McKelvey was arrested for a third time. His father refused to pay his bail money, and McKelvey remained in jail for 41 days. Eventually, he called his mother, who paid for his bail and McKelvey was released.
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Career
Radio
After being released from prison, McKelvey began attending night school and eventually got a job as a radio intern. He went on to become second mic to radio host, Wendy Williams. He developed the stage name of Charlamagne, taken from his pseudonym as a drug dealer, "Charles", and created a new persona based on Charlemagne, who ruled much of western Europe in the late 700s and early 800s, whom he read about at night school. He added "Tha God" because it "sounded cool". At this point, his unorthodox and upfront questioning of hip-hop/R&B artists on radio raised his public profile but also caused rifts between himself and the guests of the show. He was laid off from the program in 2008. Relations between Charlamagne and Williams deteriorated, though Charlamagne has stated numerous times on his show The Breakfast Club that he views Williams as a mentor and bears no ill feeling toward her.
In 2010, Charlamagne began hosting The Breakfast Club, alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee on WWPR-FM in New York City, New York, along with its national television simulcast on Revolt.
Television
Beginning on November 15, 2011, Charlamagne served as a cast member of Guy Code, a comedy television show on MTV2 that talks about a special code of conduct just for men. The show ended in March 2015. He formerly starred on the MTV2 show Charlamagne & Friends and, with fellow MTV2 personality Andrew Schulz, hosts The Brilliant Idiots podcast on Combat Jack's Loud Speakers Network. At the end of 2013 and 2014, he co-hosted MTV New Year's live from Times Square and in 2015 he was a correspondent for the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show. He currently stars and hosts MTV2 show Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne tha God. He currently narrates the BET Show, Inside the Label.
Writing
In 2017, his book Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It was published by the Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone. Steven Kurutz of The New York Times gave the book a mostly positive review, describing Black Privilege as "a street-smart self-help guide" with typically blunt advice offered in eight different principles. The book was ranked sixth in the May 7, 2017 New York Times list of best-selling hardback non-fiction.
2017 Transgender comments
In July 2017, comedian Lil Duval joked on The Breakfast Club show about killing a sex partner if she turned out to be a transgender woman. Charlamagne Tha God, while noting that killing a trans person was a hate crime, stated that women not disclosing their trans status were "taking away a person's power of choice" and "should go to jail or something". In response, trans activists, including Raquel Willis and Elle Hearns, called for the show to be boycotted or cancelled.
Discography
- South Crack: The Album (2008)
Filmography
References
External links
- Charlamagne Tha God Twitter page
- "Drake Fires Back at NY's Power 105.1 Charlamagne Tha God Regarding Gay Comments". NewsTodayVideo via YouTube. January 19, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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