What did Chelsea Handler say about Jo Koy? Actress seemingly takes a swipe at ex-boyfriend at the Critics’ Choice Awards

Chelsea Handler, the American stand-up comedian and actress hosted the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, January 14, 2024. Part of her monologue went viral when she poked fun at her ex Jo Koy’s recent hosting performance at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.

The 48-year-old began her set by joking about two legacy actors, Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro. She added,

"Unfortunately, Martin Scorsese isn’t here tonight, but that’s not going to stop me from letting everyone in this room know that I would toss him around like a little Italian meatball. Thank you for laughing at that. My writers wrote it."

Handler's "writers wrote it" reference allegedly came one week after Jo Koy bombed his Golden Globes monologue and put the blame on the show's writers, as per People.

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Chelsea Handler takes an alleged jab at ex Jo Koy's Golden Globes monologue during Critics Choice Awards

Chelsea Handler rose to fame as a stand-up comedian who appeared on the television series Girls Behaving Badly from 2002 to 2005. In 2007, she began hosting the late-night talk show Chelsea Lately on the E! network, which aired until 2014, as per Entertainment Tonight.

The actress seemingly took a jab at the Golden Globes host and her ex-boyfriend, Jo Koy, during her monologue at Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards. She began by talking about actors' appearances in their later years. Referring to Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro, Chelsea Handler quipped,

"I don't know which one of you is hotter. You guys are total smoke shows."

She then went on to make a few jokes and thanked the audience for laughing during her monologue, as her writer wrote the piece, much like another comedian's monologue last week. Jo Koy, Chelsea Handler's former boyfriend, hosted the 2024 Golden Globes on Sunday, January 7.

He gave a speech with some alleged misogynistic comments that received a lot of backlash, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Koy made a comparison between 2023's biggest movies Barbie and Oppenheimer, saying,

"Oppenheimer’ is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and ‘Barbie’ is on a plastic doll with big b*obies."

The audience seemed visibly upset by the joke as many celebrities, including Robert Downey Jr., Selena Gomez, and Barbie's director Greta Gerwig, sat through the monologue without laughing, as per People. As the joke went flat, Jo Koy gave an excuse claiming,

"Some [jokes] I wrote; some other people wrote. Yes, I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right? Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they are the ones you are laughing at."

Koy was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, January 11, 2024. He admitted that calling the writers out in a time of anguish was a "rookie move," as per The New York Post. Koy had also made a joke about Taylor Swift, saying,

"The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift."

The joke was set behind the premise of the pop singer's attendance at her boyfriend Travis Kelce's football games. Kelce is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Chelsea Handler’s monologue was delivered to much laughter, while Jo Koy’s was met with mixed reactions from the A-list audience.

She also helped Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig give an acceptance speech for winning Best Comedy for Barbie. The award was supposed to be received off camera, but Chelsea went off script and called them on stage, receiving praise from the internet and the audience present, as per E! News.

Chelsea Handler and Jo Koy had known each other for nearly 20 years before they started dating in the summer of 2021. According to Entertainment Tonight, the pair broke up in July 2022.