{"id":2143,"date":"2026-05-22T20:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/22\/chelsea-handler-faces-backlash-after-criticizing-racist-jokes-at-kevin-hart-roast\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:57:00","slug":"chelsea-handler-faces-backlash-after-criticizing-racist-jokes-at-kevin-hart-roast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/22\/chelsea-handler-faces-backlash-after-criticizing-racist-jokes-at-kevin-hart-roast\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Handler Faces Backlash After Criticizing \u201cRacist\u201d Jokes at Kevin Hart Roast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tAfter calling out comics Shane Gillis<\/a> and Tony Hinchcliffe for some of their jokes at Kevin Hart\u2019s Netflix roast<\/a>, Chelsea Handler<\/a> is now facing her own backlash for clutching her pearls over the offensive humor.<\/p>\n

\tOn Wednesday, during an appearance on Deon Cole\u2019s Funny Knowing You<\/em> \u30dd\u30c3\u30c9\u30ad\u30e3\u30b9\u30c8<\/a>, Handler called Gillis\u2019 lynching joke (\u201cKevin is so short, you\u2019d have to lynch him from a bonsai tree\u201d) \u201cworse than rape.\u201d The comic, who has been known for getting personal with her comedy targets throughout her career, also told Cole that she\u2019d received messages on social media about Gillis and Hinchcliffe from their alleged former partners.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\tWhen asked what they told her, Handler said, \u201cIt\u2019s just everything we know, that they\u2019re racist, that they\u2019re bigots, they\u2019re sexist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAnd wasn\u2019t just these few gags, apparently. Handler said she did not enjoy any of the two men\u2019s jokes during the roast in honor of Hart, with whom she has been friends for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt was ick. It was gross,\u201d Handler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tOn Wednesday, Gillis shared a statement with \u30cf\u30ea\u30a6\u30c3\u30c9\u30fb\u30ea\u30dd\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc <\/em>in response to Handler\u2019s comments, telegraphing that he believes she is virtue-signaling over the jokes to generate publicity. \u201cThis is a big moment for Chelsea. I am glad she\u2019s capitalizing. Good for her. We\u2019re all rooting for her. Anyway, come see me July 17 at the football stadium in Philly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn a New York Post<\/em> opinion piece<\/a> published Thursday, columnist Kirsten Fleming was less subtle in her response to Handler, taking her to task over her comments about Gillis and Hinchcliffe and accusing her of attempting to become \u201cthe new white savior, who speaks for all Black people,\u201d then psychoanalyzing her words and behavior to conclude Handler was \u201cjealous\u201d and \u201cfelt upstaged.\u201d \u201cThe abrasive abortion enthusiast has deputized herself the head of the Joke Police. How rich that is,\u201d Fleming wrote in a withering critique of the comedian, adding that her \u201cschtick about being a liberated, motherless alcoholic loose lady is getting old.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tComedian Steve Byrne also reacted to Handler\u2019s critique, calling it \u201crich coming from her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn a lengthy post on X<\/a>, Byrne recalled seeing Handler, whom he\u2019d yet to meet, in the audience while he was performing at a showcase. He mentioned her and she yelled out, he writes, \u201cYou\u2019re doing a great little Asian job.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tHe adds, \u201cI personally know Shane & Tony aren\u2019t racist. In fact, I don\u2019t think Chelsea is racist. Sure, she\u2019s got a long history of promiscuity, an affinity for day drinking, publicly stated she\u2019s prescribed a healthy dose of anti depressants, rumored to be awful to work for or with, has a punch card to a plastic surgeon, accused of punching down in her comedy, never been married or had kids & lives alone in her 50s, had dinner with Jeffrey Epstein but c\u2019mon gang, she\u2019s not racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHandler also spoke with Cole during this week\u2019s taping about a joke Hinchcliffe made referencing the death by suicide of The Talk<\/em> co-host Sheryl Underwood\u2019s husband. \u201cHer husband committed suicide three years into the marriage. I\u2019ve been sitting next to her for two hours, and I have to ask, how did he last that long?\u201d said Hinchcliffe, who gained national attention in 2024 for his joke about Puerto Rico being a \u201cfloating island of garbage\u201d at a pre-election event for President Trump at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

\tHandler said she found that humor \u201cgross\u201d and that despite Underwood clarifying she was OK with the joke about her personal life, it was still not what Handler considers fair game. \u201cYou know, she\u2019s fine with that. If she says she\u2019s fine with that, she\u2019s fine with that. I wasn\u2019t fine with that,\u201d Handler told Cole. \t<\/p>\n

\tUnderwood, who received raves for her own performance at the roast, spoke out on the topic this week in an interview with Entertainment Tonight<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> saying that she agrees with Handler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think people should be upset \u2014 like the George Floyd jokes, the bonsai tree joke, things like that,\u201d Underwood told the outlet of Gillis and Hinchcliffe. \u201cI want to get to know what is in your brain that makes you think that this is OK?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tNetflix\u2019s roast of Hart follows its popular and equally controversial Roast of Tom Brady, which made headlines for weeks as backlash and counter-backlash ensued after the famed quarterback responded to the dark jokes in the days following the event. <\/p>\n

\tThe series is a descendant of Comedy Central\u2019s airings of the notorious New York Friars Club roasts, which for decades delivered some very dark and incredibly funny jokes that are not for the easily offended.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After calling out comics Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe for some of their jokes at Kevin Hart\u2019s Netflix roast, Chelsea Handler is now facing her own backlash for clutching her pearls over the offensive humor. On Wednesday, during an appearance on Deon Cole\u2019s Funny Knowing You podcast, Handler called Gillis\u2019 lynching joke (\u201cKevin is so short, you\u2019d have to lynch him from a bonsai tree\u201d) \u201cworse than rape.\u201d The comic, who has been known for getting personal with her comedy targets throughout her career, also told Cole that she\u2019d received messages on social media about Gillis and Hinchcliffe from their alleged former partners.\u00a0 When asked what they told her, Handler […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[881,65,2,1332,28,1333,1334],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea-handler","category-general-news","category-hollywood","category-netflix-roast-of-kevin-hart","category-news","category-shane-gillis","category-tony-hitchcliffe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}