Chelsea Handler is receiving backlash after roasting comedians seen by many as Trump supporters on Netflix’s Roast of Kevin Hart streamed live on Sunday.
Taking aim at MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, she unleashed a barrage of jokes targeting not only him but also those who support Trump.
Handler also mocked comedians who agreed to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. “Now that your favorite leader is making the draft mandatory,” Handler began, “I assume that all of you will be signing up to go fight the war in Iran. Or do you tough-talking p_*_ies only go to the Middle East for comedy festivals?”
Pete Davidson, Jeff Ross, and Kevin Hart, who all featured in the Netflix roast, had performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in 2025.
During the show, host Shane Gillis referred to Chelsea Handler’s appearance at Jeffrey Epstein’s dinner in 2010.
“Speaking of tossing tiny shrimp into a child’s mouth, Chelsea Handler went to dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s house in 2010. Look it up, there are articles. It wasn’t like a big party, there were like seven people there. It was like Prince Andrew and Woody Allen were there,” he said.
Trump supporters took it upon themselves to dig out Chelsea Handler’s alleged connection with Epstein and started sharing old podcast comments, leading to renewed online discussion.
According to Handler, she went to the dinner with Katie Couric, where Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn, Charlie Rose, and Prince Andrew were also present.
The comedian claimed that she didn’t know Epstein beforehand. “I did go to dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s house. I didn’t know who Jeffrey Epstein was… It was a long time ago.”
The gathering felt off: “We had dinner and it was so awkward and so weird. I was like, what are we doing here?”