Opinion: I knew the real Chelsea Handler. Wait until you read what she did
Maybe Chelsea Handler should cancel herself?The chronically unfunny 'comic' has been on a rampage, torching stand-ups Tony Hinchcliffe and Shane Gillis over their jokes at Netflix's The Roast of Kevin Hart.'They're racists, they're bigots, they're sexist,' Handler said this week. 'I don't find those jokes funny.'Who died of botched lip injections and made Chelsea captain of the morality police? Handler made her name by offending people. I remember doing shows with her on VH1 in the early 2000s. She drove our executive producer insane with her inability to control her impulses during live events.And it's even more hypocritical than that. Comic Steve Byrne, a friend of mine who happens to be Asian America, called out Handler for dishing her own 'racist' gags.Once Byrne was scheduled to do a comedy set at the Tonight Show a few weeks after Handler started cracking jokes about Angelina Jolie's then three-year-old son Pax. 'He probably doesn't even realize he's Asian yet! He certainly doesn't know he's going to be a horrible driver… or that he's going to be amazing at doing nails,' she said.Steve was forced to neuter his set because hers was deemed so offensively racist.Another time, Byrne – who wasn't particularly friendly with Handler – was performing when she heckled him from the audience, yelling, 'You're doing a great little Asian job!' Pictured: Handler with Shane Gillis and Kevin Hart on May 10.Comic Accuses Chelsea Handler of Double Standards on Comedy Is that 'racist,' Chelsea?And never forget that Handler took heat over her tweet during the 2014 Oscars after Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress, writing '#AngelinaJolie just filed adoption papers #lupitanyongo #Oscars'.Now, she's a pearl-clutcher?I'd expect such boring censoriousness from the like of Senator Elizabeth ‘Fauxcahontas’ Warren but not a comedian.Listen, I'm on a comedy tour right now playing clubs across the country (tickets at kennedynation.com) and I will tell you people are starving for a good time. They've had enough lectures and run into enough arbitrary boundaries. They are sick and tired of bogus new rules being shoved down their throats.Audiences want to laugh – and often at edgy jokes.Don't just take it from me, here's Kevin Hart sticking up for Gillis and Hinchcliffe.'I wasn't shocked! Like, that's what they do,' he told Charlamagne tha God. 'It happens every year when they do a roast. It's not new… it's not a new approach to comedy… And I hate to say this, but I'm going to because we're being honest — people are talking about that joke. Talking about his set! Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set, or one of the best sets.' Comedians Defend Roast Culture Amid Backlash Gillis and Hinchcliff understood the assignment - shock the wrinkles out of the cultural linen. They weren't reading Bible verses to 11-year-olds at a church social. The point of a roast has always been to peg the naughty-meter in candy apple red.That's why Ted Danson once showed up at his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg's roast in blackface and Jimmy Kimmel accused Flavor Flav of looking like a Make A Wish kid in a wetsuit.Steve Byrne, who made clear that he harbors no resentment over Handler's jokes, said it best:'I personally know Shane & Tony aren't racist,' he posted on X. 'In fact, I don't think Chelsea is racist. Sure, she's got a long history of promiscuity, an affinity for day drinking, publicly stated she's 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'mon gang, she's not racist.'Maybe Steve should be on the dais at the next Netflix roast!
