Chelsea Handler is not letting this one go quietly. More than a week after Netflix’s “The Roast of Kevin Hart” aired, she went on a podcast and unloaded on fellow comics Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe, calling them racists, bigots, and sexist. With a lynching joke, a dead husband punchline, and no real apology in sight, the comedy world is now loudly debating where the line actually is.
What Handler Said on the Podcast
On the Wednesday, May 20 episode of Deon Cole’s “Funny Knowing You” podcast, Handler dropped the gloves entirely. She labeled Gillis and Hinchcliffe “racists,” “bigots,” and “sexist” on the record, with zero hesitation.
She also revealed something that raised eyebrows. Handler said ex-girlfriends of Gillis had reached out to her before the roast with information about the comic.
When Cole pressed her for details, Handler kept it broad but cutting: “It’s just everything we know: that they’re racist, that they’re bigots, that they’re sexist. That they think they’re invincible.”
She then connected their behavior to a larger pattern she sees in comedy. Handler argued that white male comics use racism to “further their careers” and gain acceptance within the Joe Rogan circle of comedians based in Austin. It was a direct accusation about how offensive humor gets used as a calculated career move.
Notably, Handler made clear her anger had nothing to do with the jokes aimed at her personally. She described the shots at her age and sex life as lazy and not clever writing. She brushed off those personal attacks entirely, saying she is “rich, famous, and hot.”
The Jokes That Handler Refuses to Laugh At
The roast aired on Netflix on May 10. Two specific moments drove the loudest backlash, and Handler addressed both of them directly.
- The lynching joke: Gillis quipped that Kevin Hart is so short that “they’re gonna have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.” Gillis later admitted the line required “three weeks of deliberation” before he used it, and he has since said he “could’ve done without it.”
- The suicide joke: Hinchcliffe made a punchline about Sheryl Underwood’s late husband Michael Sparkman, who died by suicide in 1990, suggesting that sitting next to Underwood for two hours made him wonder how Sparkman lasted three years in the marriage.
“Lynching Black people is not a joke,” Handler said plainly. “That’s worse than rape.”
She challenged the logic directly. If a comedian knows they cannot joke about rape on a public stage, she asked, why is a lynching joke somehow acceptable? That question cut fast and traveled quickly online.
On the Underwood joke, Handler drew a careful distinction. Gillis had called Underwood before the roast to clear those jokes with her, and Underwood later appeared on Gillis’ podcast, defending the humor and saying that “sometimes humor is the thing.” Handler respected that.
“If she says she’s fine with that, she’s fine with that,” Handler noted. “I wasn’t fine with that. I thought that was disgusting too.”
Gillis Fires Back With a Plug, Not an Apology
It did not take long for Gillis to respond. And when he did, the reply told you everything you needed to know.
“This is a big moment for Chelsea. I am glad she’s capitalizing. Good for her. We’re all rooting for her. Anyway, come see me July 17th at the football stadium in Philly.” — Shane Gillis, via spokesperson
No apology. No engagement with the substance. Just a straight redirect to ticket sales for his upcoming stadium show.
Hinchcliffe’s team did not respond to media requests at the time of publication.
It is worth remembering the full picture from the roast stage itself. Gillis introduced Handler that night by referencing her 2010 attendance at a dinner hosted by Jeffrey Epstein and targeting her political views. Handler had previously addressed the Epstein dinner in a 2021 interview with Rob Lowe, explaining the evening was “awkward” and that she did not know who Epstein was at the time.
Handler did not wait for the podcast to fight back. On stage that night, she compared the duo to people who “burn a cross on someone’s lawn on Sunday nights” and took devastating aim at Hinchcliffe throughout her set. She had clearly walked in already knowing the kind of night it was going to be.
Kevin Hart himself has since defended the roast, praising Hinchcliffe and declaring that the comedian “understood the assignment.” That defense has only deepened the divide among fans and fellow comedians alike.
Michael Che, the Writing Room, and a Bigger Problem
Handler is not the only voice in the industry speaking out.
Michael Che, the “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update host, was originally scheduled to perform at the roast but pulled out before the event due to scheduling conflicts with SNL. Days after the special aired, he took to Instagram to share his frustration.
In a series of since-deleted posts, Che pointed out that Gillis’ writing team consisted of five white men and questioned how that made sense for a roast honoring one of the most successful Black comedians in the country. He also drew a sharp contrast between how white comedians and Black comedians approach a roast, arguing the two styles are fundamentally different in tone, target, and intent.
One separate post took direct aim at the decision-making behind the scenes, asking who gets chosen to write jokes for a celebration of Black excellence.
It is worth noting that the full roast had 17 credited writers in total, several of whom are Black. The writers Che called out were specifically part of Gillis’ personal team, not the entire writing staff.
Hinchcliffe also drew fire from another direction. His joke referencing George Floyd’s death prompted a public response from Floyd’s foundation. According to reports, it was the second time Hinchcliffe had made a joke about Floyd’s death at a major roast event.
Despite all the controversy, the roast has cracked 13.5 million views on Netflix, making it one of the platform’s most-watched comedy specials of the year. The numbers say one thing. The conversation it started says something else entirely.
A roast built to celebrate one of the most successful comedians alive has instead become the biggest flashpoint in American comedy in years. Chelsea Handler said what she felt, Gillis promoted his Philly stadium show, and 13.5 million people watched from their couches while the argument got louder. The real question nobody has fully answered is not whether those jokes landed. It is who, exactly, was meant to laugh. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
