Chelsea Handler has made cringing comments about fellow comedians Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe, following her divisive comments on Kevin Hart’s recent roast.
“I knew enough about Tony and Shane that they’re racist, bigots, sexist,” the “Chelsea Handler Show” star said on Wednesday’s episode of the “Den Cole’s Funny Knowing You” podcast.
“I don’t think that joke is funny,” she continued, adding that Gillis made fun of Hart’s height during a roast earlier this month, saying the 46-year-old Hart is so short that he “would get lynched from a bonsai tree.”
“Lynching a black person is not a joke,” Handler declared. “It’s worse than rape.”
The 51-year-old author also touched on Hinchcliffe’s joke about the death of Sheryl Underwood’s late husband, Michael Sparkman, who died by suicide in 1990, but Underwood himself recently appeared on Gillis’ Matt & Shane’s Secret Podcast on the same day and defended the joke, saying, “Sometimes humor is important.”
Handler claimed that Hart “deserves” a “high-class roast,” which allows the comedian to “try hard without being vulgar.”
“I thought it was going to be a terrible atmosphere because there was so much hate,” she said.
Hinchcliffe’s representative did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Wednesday, but Gillis told Page Six through a representative: “This is a big moment for Chelsea. I’m happy for her. Good for her. We’re all rooting for her. Anyway, come see us at the Philadelphia football stadium on July 17th.”
Handler, who was on the roster for the event, was introduced with similarly scathing comments by Gillis, who took aim at her liberal views, citing her appearance at a 2010 event hosted by the late convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
Gillis later defended the crude remarks, calling them “fun.” Meanwhile, Handler addressed Epstein’s attendance at the event in a 2021 interview with Rob Lowe, claiming the dinner was “awkward” and that he “didn’t know who” the disgraced investor was at the time.
Handler wasn’t the only one to voice his opinion on Hart’s roast, which is currently streaming on Netflix.
“Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che was originally scheduled to perform at the event, but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts with his NBC sketch comedy show, sources tell Variety.
Ms Choi, 43, took to Instagram two days after the roast, criticizing Ms Hinchcliffe and Ms Gillis’ jokes in a since-deleted upload.
“White people and black people joke differently,” he wrote. “Black people are angry, like, ‘Look, these aren’t shoes!'” White Roast is like “slavery, math, murdered teens, sex crimes, slander, family secrets.” ”
Choi added, “White men don’t care about shoes.”
In another post, which has since been deleted, the Emmy-nominated writer targeted white writers who were hired to write jokes for comedians at controversial live events.
“‘Let’s toast to the most successful black comic career of the past decade,'” he wrote. “‘I really like it! Who should I ask to write it?'”
In another slide, he shared a photo of five members of Gillis’ writing team, all white men. “Come on nnnnn… isn’t it funny?” the comedic actor captioned the snapshot.
