Shane Gillis and Chelsea Handler exchanged sharp insults during Netflix's 'The Roast of Kevin Hart' on Sunday, with their exchanges quickly going viral. Gillis, 38, took aim at Handler by calling her 'a Zionist' on stage, adding, 'Not saying that's a good or bad thing.' He then joked, 'Speaking of dead kids, she's a big fan of abortions.'
Gillis continued his onslaught, quipping that Handler, 51, 'has been scraped more times than the grill at Benihana.' He then referenced her attendance at a dinner party at Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan townhouse, saying, 'Speaking of tossing tiny shrimp into a child's mouth, Chelsea Handler went to dinner at Jeffrey Epstein's house in 2010.' The comment drew groans from the live audience at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
Gillis was referring to Handler's 2021 admission on Rob Lowe's podcast that she attended a dinner at Epstein's home, where she claimed she didn't know who he was. 'Look it up, there's articles. It wasn't like a big party, there were like seven people there. It was like Prince Andrew and Woody Allen were there,' Gillis said. Also present were talk show host Charlie Rose, Katie Couric, and Allen's wife, Soon-Yi Previn.
Handler responded when she took the stage, delivering a personalized jab at Gillis. 'Shane, just so you know, Judaism and Zionism are two different things,' she said. 'Just like how Chinatown and Koreatown are two different things, but your favorite slur works in both places.' The remark drew laughs, referencing Gillis' firing from Saturday Night Live in 2019 after clips of him using racist and homophobic language resurfaced.
Gillis was famously let go from SNL within a week of being hired after a podcast with fellow comic Matt McCusker went viral, featuring racial slurs against Asians and homophobic comments. In one exchange, Gillis said, 'I think gay dudes are funnier than white chicks,' and later, 'Chinatown's f**king nuts...Let the f***ing ch**ks live there, huh?' He also remarked, 'An Asian trying to learn English bothers me more than someone listening to Lil Uzi Vert while I'm trying to eat f***ing dinner.'
Handler has faced criticism from pro-Palestine protesters for her statements supporting Israel since the Gaza conflict began in 2023. In a February 2024 video with Israeli actress Noa Tishby, she said, 'I want to be clear that we are pro-Palestinian and anti-Hamas. And it's OK to question Israeli policies and still be pro-Israel.' She added, 'Progressives must love Israel. Israel is our greatest defense in the Middle East for all of Western democracy and Western values. If Israel goes down, guess who they will come for next?'
Protests erupted at Handler's show in Virginia in April 2024, with women shouting, 'Palestinian babies - you're a genocide supporter!' Handler responded, 'I can't hear you. Oh, honey, please. This is not what this night is for.'
On Lowe's podcast in 2021, Handler said of the Epstein dinner, 'I did go to dinner at Jeffrey Epstein's house. I didn't know who Jeffrey Epstein was. I went with Katie Couric. Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn were there. Charlie Rose was there. Oh yeah, Prince Andrew was there with - no, with no one. He was there with Jeffrey Epstein.' She said she stayed 'not for very long.'
Documents released by the Department of Justice earlier this year revealed that Allen and Previn were regular guests at Epstein's dinner parties after his release from jail for soliciting prostitution in Palm Beach, Florida. Epstein was a registered sex offender at the time. The documents also showed that Rose, Couric, and ABC's George Stephanopoulos were among other high-profile attendees, though the mentions do not indicate any wrongdoing.
Allen, 90, has faced controversy over his relationship with Previn, who is the adopted daughter of his former partner Mia Farrow. Farrow claimed the relationship began while Previn was in high school, but Allen and Previn maintain it started when she was a college student.
