Kevin Hart was meant to be the main focus at Netflix’s Roast of the comedian-actor, but the attention quickly shifted to Shane Gillis and Chelsea Handler, who ended up trading sharp barbs on stage. Gillis, who hosted the event, spoke about a dinner Handler reportedly attended in 2010 that included Jeffrey Epstein, two years after his prison sentence for a solicitation of prostitution from a minor.
He also mentioned that the gathering was small, saying only a few people were present, including Prince Andrew and Woody Allen. Gillis even told the audience that he considered all of this part of a roast performance and suggested that people can find information about the dinner in public reports online.
Before welcoming Chelsea Handler on stage, Shane Gillis said, “Chelsea is a Zionist. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. Speaking of dead kids, she’s big fan of abortions. Chelsea has been scraped 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. Look it up, there are articles. It wasn’t like a big party, there were like seven guests. Prince Andrew and Woody Allen was there.”
Handler then responded directly to Gillis’ remarks during the roast, while clearing that being Jewish and supporting Zionism are not the same thing. She also added a comparison, saying that different cultural areas like Chinatown and Koreatown are not the same either.
Handler then shifted the focus to Gillis’ past controversy with Saturday Night Live, where he was removed before officially joining the show after old clips of him using offensive language about Asian surfaced online.
After making jokes about Shane Gillis and some other guests, Chelsea Handler also returned to the topic involving Jeffrey Epstein. She said, “Welcome to tonight’s episode of To Catch a Predator. This is a real who’s who of statutory rapists. We’re all just lucky none of you could afford an island.”
Chelsea Handler has often said that she only went to one dinner at Epstein’s home. She has made it clear that she never visited his controversial private island and never had a close relationship with him. She has also tried to separate herself from Epstein, saying that the meeting was limited to a single event and nothing more.
