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Chelsea Handler in Hot Water for ‘Tasteless, Offensive and Hurtful’ Parody

Jul 17, 2014  •  Post A Comment

Chelsea Handler is under fire for a skit on on her E! Entertainment show “Chelsea Lately” that is being called “tasteless, offensive and hurtful to Holocaust survivors,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The criticism over the skit, a Hitler parody, is from the Anti-Defamation League.

The skit featured Handler's sidekick Chuy Bravo dressed in a Hitler costume, which he explained by saying, “Because Germany won the World Cup.” One panelist on the show 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.”

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman, who is a Holocaust survivor, said, “While we try to give comedians leeway and do not believe that Nazi jokes should be completely off limits, 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.”

The report notes that Chuy said near the end of the bit: “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.”

The ADL said its complaint was aimed primarily at Handler’s continued references to the joke.

Said Foxman: “This Hitler parody in itself was tasteless, 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.”

E! declined to comment about the ADL complaint.

Handler's E! show is ending Aug. 26, with Handler planning a new project for Netflix to launch in 2016.

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