Chelsea Handler has rushed in to defend people who didn’t need defending.
Handler ripped into Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe, accusing them of making offensive jokes during “The Roast Of Kevin Hart.”
She claimed their jokes were “racist” and “gross,” and rose to the defense of blacks who were at the brunt of the jabs — only to discover they didn’t feel offended at all. At least one of the black comedians that Handler thought she was defending appears to have made it clear that no actual offense was ever taken.
Appearing on the May 20 episode of Deon Cole’s podcast “Funny Knowing You,” Handler described Gillis and Hinchcliffe by saying, “they’re racist, that they’re bigots, that they’re sexist,” before accusing them of thinking “they’re invincible.” She called out jokes about lynching, and humor pointed directly at Sheryl Underwood’s husband, who died by suicide.
Shortly after Handler attempted to defend Underwood against the jokes, Underwood appeared on Gillis’ podcast and reaffirmed that she didn’t take offense to any of the jabs.
“Sometimes humor is the thing,” she said. “It’s the most uncomfortable humor that lessens the tension and the stress.”
Handler fired off by saying, “It was gross. I don’t find those jokes to be funny — jokes about lynching black people.”
“Lynching is not a joke. That’s worse than rape. You’re not joking about rape, are you? … You know you can’t do that, but you can say ‘lynching’?”
She continued, “I found them making fun of Sheryl Underwood’s dead husband who committed suicide [gross].
“If she says she’s fine with that, she’s fine with that. I wasn’t fine with that. I thought that was disgusting too,” Handler said.
Notably, Handler has been criticized for using her sexual preference for and fetishization of black men as a means of shielding herself from racism allegations regarding her own jokes. In 2014, the female comedian was confronted by George Stephanopoulos over a “tasteless” social media piggybacking off of Lupita Nyong’o’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for “12 Years a Slave.”
“Congratulations #12yearsaslave,” she wrote. “Go to Africa or buy #ugandabekiddingme http://amzn.to/1de1ka9 #aheadofthecurve #Oscars,” Handler wrote on social media at the time.
According to ABC News, Handler — speaking with Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America — declared, “I’m not a racist… I date a lot of black people. So that would be a difficult thing to explain to them.”
Underwood confirmed that she was respectfully approached about the joke topics ahead of time and was completely comfortable with the content.
Addressing those who were offended by the content, Underwood said, “Well, don’t be offended for me, if I’m not offended!”
She continued, “But be offended for your point of view.”
Underwood acknowledged that today’s roasts “hit under the belt,” but noted, “if you worry about that, you restrict yourself to great comedy.”
She continued, “any tragedy in my life, I bring it to the stage.” (RELATED: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star Michael Che Slams White Writers After Reportedly Dropping Out Of Celebrity Roast)
Gillis issued a statement to Variety addressing Handler’s concerns over the content presented at the roast.
“This is a big moment for Chelsea. I am glad she’s capitalizing. Good for her,” he said.