Comedian Chelsea Handler took aim at Elon Musk and several conservative figures during her appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, on Saturday.
The outspoken liberal comedian, 50, sat down for a discussion with journalist Kara Swisher, where she criticized President Donald Trump and first buddy Musk, who currently oversees the Department of Government Efficiency.
During the conversation, Swisher revealed that she had encouraged Handler to engage in a romantic relationship with Musk.
“I told her to take one for the team and date Elon Musk and bring him back,” Swisher said.
Handler, however, was quick to dismiss the suggestion, making it clear she had no interest in any personal relationship with the billionaire entrepreneur.
“There’s a lot I would do for the country, but having sex with Elon Musk is not one of them. I can’t,” Handler responded.
Handler’s grievances extended beyond Musk, as she voiced her frustration with his political influence.
“I mean did anyone vote for Elon Musk to be the president?” she asked the audience. “I mean, can’t we come together–Republicans and Democrats–and say we don’t want that? Can’t we agree on that at least?”
She continued by alluding to baseless accusations regarding foreign influence, adding, “I don’t know why we can’t somehow figure out a way to get together and at least have one goal in mind to not be, you know, a Russian asset.”
Despite her evident dissatisfaction with Trump’s presidency, Handler insisted she would not let it impact her emotional well-being as she claimed it had in the past.
“You know, the first Trump presidency, for instance, I let it take me down, and I let it steal my joy. And I am not going to do that again,” she said.
“It’s the power of being optimistic in the dark and not going down a wormhole.”
Handler also made it a point to highlight her aversion to traditional relationships. “I like a variety of men. I like men in my life. I’m not a settle down kind of girl,” she stated.
The conversation then shifted toward Vice President JD Vance, whom Swisher described as someone who would consider Handler his “ultimate nightmare.”
Handler did not hold back in her response, criticizing conservative views on family and gender roles.
“Those types of men that want to keep women at home and being mothers, and you know, not having a career, like that’s just so antiquated and it’s so slow and it’s so boring,” she remarked.
Furthering her attack, Handler claimed that men in politics were “scared of women.”
“I think the political situation we’re in is a direct reflection of the fact that men are so scared of women. Like why are you acting like this if you’re not?” she questioned.
Confident that women would not be subdued by figures like Vance, she added, “Women are more powerful and independent than we’ve ever been, and that isn’t going to change.”
Handler has taken aim at Vance before, specifically in July when she lambasted him over past remarks about “childless cat ladies” in reference to Democratic politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a video posted to X, she launched into a tirade against him. “Listen up, you wingnut elegy. This country is still controlled by men in systems that were set up by men that are carefully crafted to continue to benefit men.”
Childless Cat and Dog Ladies for Harris pic.twitter.com/ywHt1W0ZGb
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) July 28, 2024
She then made an inflammatory remark, “So, to put it in women-hating terms you’ll understand, you’re being hysterical.”
Continuing her verbal assault, Handler dismissed any connection between parenting and presidential eligibility.
“There is no correlation between childless people and the presidency,” she insisted, pointing out that Harris has two stepchildren.
Handler also took the opportunity to mock Trump’s personal life. “But maybe if she had five kids with three different men, and a scandalous affair with a porn star, and was a convicted felon, that would be more palatable to Republican men,” she sneered, taking a jab at Trump’s family life and legal battles.
Not stopping there, Handler revived an old, debunked claim about Vance, insinuating he had inappropriate relations with a couch.
“You sad, diet, Mountain-Dew-drinking, couch-humping, dolphin-porn aficionado, all of us childless cat and dog ladies are gonna go from childless and crushing it to childless and crushing you in November.”
She doubled down on the accusation, quipping, “And before you tell me he didn’t really f*** a couch, spare me. I grew up in New Jersey in the 80s where everyone had a couch in their basement and I know a couch f***** when I see one.”
In another instance of her characteristic inflammatory rhetoric, Handler recently suggested that First Lady Melania Trump had a background in sex work.
While hosting the Critics Choice Awards in February, she made a thinly veiled reference to the former first lady. “It was a huge year for biopics … ‘Anora,’ about Melania Trump.”
Handler repeated the quip again on stage, referencing the 2024 film “Anora,” which follows “a young sex worker from Brooklyn.”
Handler also took the opportunity to mock Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives during the show.
“I am your DEI host, Chelsea Handler,” she declared. “I wanna acknowledge that we’ve been through a lot lately … our entire country, waking up every day, not knowing what news we’re gonna hear that will disappoint and horrify us.”
During the event, Handler found another target in Cheryl Hines, the actress and wife of Trump’s secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While making a jab at those who left empty-handed at the Critics Choice Awards, she remarked, “Those who didn’t win at Friday night’s awards show will just be in the background, questioning your life choices, like Cheryl Hines at a Senate confirmation hearing.”