Chelsea Handler takes swipes at Melania Trump, Cheryl Hines, Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni battle in Critics Choice Awards monologue

Self-described “DEI host” Chelsea Handler emceed the Critics Choice Awards on Friday for the third year in a row, and while she addressed the devastating wildfires and tackled politics (including a swipe at first lady Melania Trump), Handler shied away from the topic that was on everyone’s mind: Karla Sofía Gascón.

The Best Actress nominee’s offensive social media posts about such topics as Muslims, George Floyd, and diversity at the Oscars were unearthed last week by a journalist, causing the Emilia Pérez awards campaign to be derailed. Gascón previously announced that she wouldn’t attend the Critics Choice ceremony and other awards-related events. She’s also up for an Oscar next month, and made history there as the first openly transgender person ever nominated in Best Actress.

Taking place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., the 30th annual Critics Choice event was rescheduled twice in the wake of the wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles region, which the comedian acknowledged prior to her monologue. “I would like to address the devastation that unfolded here in Los Angeles in recent weeks,” she said as the room full of A-listers from film and television stood up in a standing ovation for the city’s first responders. “What we saw and the scope of loss has been almost impossible to imagine.” She presented a QR code where folks at home can donate to wildfire relief funds.

But soon Handler moved into joke mode, ribbing the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively legal battle from It Ends with Us as the “distraction” needed in today’s political climate, which didn’t seem to land in the room. Handler laughed about how the fictional Hacks is the only place to find a female late-night talk-show host these days, and she mentioned how St. Denis Medical star David Alan Grier gives “a good Pap smear.”

Chelsea Handler jokes about the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively lawsuit at the 2025 #CriticsChoiceAwards pic.twitter.com/z9fUFyS8fW

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 8, 2025

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Handler then targeted several of the nominees present, noting that Wicked nominee Ariana Grande “found love with a munchkin,” referring to Ethan Slater, and how Grande and Cythia Erivo likely “did molly” during their Wicked press tour. She said that the “sexy” Ralph Fiennes should never play Vladimir Putin, and how Nicole Kidman “hit some notes that I’ve never heard before,” referring to her raunchy sex scenes in Babygirl.

Chelsea Handler brings up #WickedMovie‘s Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship during her 2025 #CriticsChoiceAwards monologue pic.twitter.com/mfWi864zKo

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 8, 2025

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On the political front, Handler suggested that Anora, which tells the story of “Russians and prostitutes,” is actually “about Melania Trump.” And she said that the losers at tonight’s awards show “will just be in the background, questioning your life choices, like Cheryl Hines at a Senate confirmation hearing.” Ouch!

Chelsea Handler hosting Friday night’s #CriticsChoiceAwards: “It was a huge year for biopics….Anora, about Melania Trump.” (IMDb on Anora: “A young sex worker from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch.” pic.twitter.com/qiZGajwHAW

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) February 8, 2025

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Handler was bleeped once on the live broadcast for dropping an F-bomb. The gag: since it took Colin Farrell four hours in the makeup chair everyday to transform into The Penguin, “We now we know how long it takes to make Colin Farrell unf–kable,” she deadpanned.

Grade Handler’s performance as the 2025 Critics Choice host, A through F, in our poll below, and then sound off with your hot takes in our forums.

Handler got her start on the stand-up comedy circuit before hosting her own E! talk show, Chelsea Lately, from 2007 to 2014. She later emceed an eponymous Netflix program from 2016 to 2017. She has appeared in TV shows like Will & Grace and Not Dead Yet, and in the films This Means War and Prom Dates. Handler is a 2022 Grammy nominee in Best Comedy Album for Evolution, and a two-time 2009 Gold Derby Award nominee in Best Variety Performer for Chelsea Lately and Breakthrough Performer of the Year.

Conclave and Wicked led the 2025 Critics Choice nominations for film with 11 bids each, followed by Dune: Part Two and Emilia Pérez at 10 apiece. For television, Shōgun made out with a leading six citations, while the following programs all nabbed four: Abbott Elementary, The Diplomat, Disclaimer, Hacks, The Penguin, and What We Do in the Shadows.

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