Donnell Rawlings is defending his Laugh Factory beef with fellow comic Corey Holcomb ... telling us that while he could've gone about it differently, his rival reeks of hypocrisy.
We got Donnell on "TMZ Live" Tuesday ... where he tells us the spat ensued 'cause he wanted to shield himself from CH's allegations that anybody in comedy who's done 3 movies or more has had to perform fellatio on someone in the biz -- something he outright denies.
DR also notes that according to IMDB, Corey himself has performed in 4 movies ... telling us he's literally guilty of his own joke. In other words, the attack itself didn't make sense.
In hindsight, Donnell admits he shouldn't have yelled at Corey, but he wanted to protect his integrity and those in comedy who've done over 3 movies.
He also had fury built up from Corey taking shots at his good friend Dave Chappelle for years ... so he also felt the need to stick up for him, too, 'cause he's loyal to his pals.
In general, Donnell doesn't understand the need for comics to create controversy by taking shots at others ... something that's been happening quite a lot lately in epic fashion.
He makes it clear to us that there's no bashing in his new special "Chappelle's Home Team - Donnell Rawlings: A New Day." Basically, he's trying to say that you don't need to drag someone down to come out on top -- and for that, we salute him.