The Roast of Kevin Hart may be long over, but the red-hot beef between Chelsea Handler and Shane Gillis continues onward.
During a recent appearance on Deon Cole’s Funny Knowing You podcast, Handler took aim at Gillis and his friend and collaborator Tony Hinchcliffe. She described both comedians as “racists,” “bigots,” and sexists who “think they’re invincible.”
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When asked by Cole whether she thought white comics in general lean into racist jokes to further their careers, Handler said they were probably hoping to “get in with that group of Roganites” associated with Joe Rogan’s Austin comedy scene.
Continuing the discussion, Handler said it was in poor taste for Gillis and Hinchcliffe to make racist jokes at an event intended to honor Hart. In one joke, Gillis said Hart is “so short, you’d have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.” Gillis and Hinchcliffe also took jabs at fellow comic Sheryl Underwood’s late husband, who died by suicide in 1990 — though Gillis noted he cleared the topic with Underwood ahead of the roast.
“I don’t find those jokes to be funny — jokes about lynching Black people,” Handler said. “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’? People are like it’s a roast, you go for it. You couldn’t go for it without being gross?”
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.”
“There was so much disgustingness,” Handler said. “I knew it was gonna be such a gross vibe that I would be able to elevate it, no problem, and that’s what I went to do… Kevin didn’t deserve that. He deserved an elevated roast.”
It’s worth noting that Gillis later said on his own podcast that he “could have done without” the lynching joke — but only because it didn’t land the same way as his shows before the roast.
In a statement issued to Variety following Handler’s appearance on Cole’s podcast, Gillis brushed off the criticism and plugged his upcoming tour by saying, “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.”
Shortly after Cole’s episode with Handler was posted, Gillis uploaded an episode of his own podcast featuring Underwood. During the sitdown, Underwood reaffirmed she was fine with the jokes about her husband. “Don’t be offended for me if I’m not offended!” she said. “Humor is a powerful tool that helps us navigate the most difficult moments in life.”
Circling back to the May 10th roast, Gillis landed the first blow when he called Handler a “Zionist… I’m not saying that’s good or bad.” Gillis then pivoted quickly into another rapid-fire series of jokes against Handler:
“Speaking of dead kids, she’s a big fan of abortions. Chelsea’s been scrapped more times than the grill at Benihana. Speaking of tossing tiny shrimp into a child’s mouth, Chelsea Handler went to dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s house in 2010. It’s just a fun one. You can look it up, there’s articles. It wasn’t like a big party, there were like seven people there. Prince Andrew and Woody Allen were there.”
When it was Handler’s turn at the podium, the annoyed actress-comedian didn’t hold back much:
“Shane, just so you know, Judaism and Zionism are two different things. Kind of like Chinatown and Koreatown are two different things, but your favorite slur works in both places. Shane has been accused of being anti-Asian, which is ironic because Shane has the complexion and physique of a steamed dumpling.”
Later, addressing both Gillis and Hinchcliffe, she remarked, “This must be so exciting for you guys. Usually on Sunday nights, you just burn a cross on someone’s lawn. Tonight you get to roast a whole Black guy.”
Earlier in the podcast episode, Handler said she didn’t mind some of the jokes made at her expense. “I’m rich, I’m famous, and I’m hot, so I’m fucking people,” she said. “They couldn’t say anything other than that I’m a whore or [talk about] my age. Those aren’t jokes, that’s not clever writing. I knew they would be lazy, because they do that for a living.”
Chelsea Handler goes OFF on Tony Hinchcliffe & Shane Gillis for making “racist” jokes at the Kevin Hart Roast and claims White people should NOT be joking about Black people in that kind of way since its equivalent to joking about r-pe 😳
“I knew enough about Tony & Shane…… pic.twitter.com/jjhgXUdPBz
— Killa 🌺 (@KillaKreww) May 20, 2026
