Chelsea Handler is no stranger to controversy. However, it seems like her latest parody on her late night talk show Chelsea Lately, may have crossed the line, and she is now being called “tasteless, offensive and hurtful.”
During an episode that aired on Monday, July 14, Chelsea did a Hitler parody on the show with her friend Chuy dressed up like the Nazi dictator. When Chuy first took to the stage, Handler asked him why he was dressed as Hitler to which he responded by saying, “because Germany won the World Cup.” “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,” Chuy later added.
“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,” Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director for the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement on Wednesday, July 16.
“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,” Foxman added. “It was tasteless, offensive and hurtful both to Holocaust survivors and their families, and to members of the German team and all Germans.”
At the end of the skit Chuy said, “I am dressed as Hitler as a joke but I want everyone to know that I was a terrible man. I love Jews. Good night.”
Although the parody was intended to put a funny spin on Germany winning the World Cup, many are outraged that she would stoop so low. And it’s not only Handler that is making jokes about Germany’s win; their win has ignited a slew of Hitler and Nazi comments on social media.
germany won the world cup. cool. YOU GUYS STILL DID THE HOLOCAUST THO. WE DIDNT FORGET.
— CHILDHOOD RUINER (@CHlLDHOODRUINER) July 14, 2014
.@Germany good job with the World Cup. bad job with the whole hitler thing.
— EJ Gomez (@EJGomez) July 14, 2014
// I'm not German, but even seeing someone call Germany "Hitler's team" after they won the World Cup crossed the line. To even say –
— Foxette. (@iFoxyBeauty) July 14, 2014
Germany! You just won the World Cup! What are you going to do now?
"We're Going to Poland!"
Uhh coach?
*mask falls off*
*coach is hitler*
— Cocaine Cola (@SatansTongue) July 13, 2014
Congratulations, Germany! You did it! You won the world cup! But you also elected Hitler to office.
— Facts About Bok Choy (@CHOY_FACTS) July 13, 2014
ADL explained in a letter to E! Entertainment that Handler’s comments, “only play into this trivialization of what happened during the Holocaust. This trend only seems to be getting worse as time passes and as Holocaust survivors and memory of what really happened during World War II dwindles.”
“These tweets falsely and irresponsibly identify current, democratic Germany with the horrific past of the country, which the present German government and people have denounced and rejected,” Foxman stated. “Germany has done so much to atone for its past, and to have this happen now is terribly hurtful.”
Image via Wikimedia Commons
