Chelsea Handler criticised for Hitler parody

E! host Chelsea Handler has come under fire for a Hitler parody on her talk show following Germany’s win at the World Cup.

Longtime sidekick Chuy Bravo was dressed as Hitler in a segment that threw in plenty of gags that the Anti-Defamation League has labelled “tasteless, offensive and hurtful to Holocaust survivors.”

During the segment one panelist said, “I’m a Jew, but I’m still glad Germany won. It’s nice for them to have something gold that they didn’t pry out of my grandfather’s mouth.”

As the segment concluded, Chuy said: “I am dressed as Hitler as a joke, but I want everyone to know that he was a terrible man. I love Jews. Good night.”

Abraham Foxman, ADL national director and a Holocaust survivor, said of the parody, “While we try to give comedians leeway and do not believe that Nazi jokes should be completely off limits,” adding “this was an instance of taking a Hitler parody to the extreme. It was tasteless, offensive and hurtful, both to Holocaust survivors and their families and to members of the German team and all Germans.”

“This Hitler parody in itself was tasteless,” said Foxman, “but Chelsea Handler’s references to it throughout the program and her connecting it with Germany’s World Cup victory took the joke way overboard.”

Chelsea, Lately is due to end its run on E! on August 26th with Handler moving to Netflix in 2016.

Source: Hollywood Reporter