Chelsea Handler recently hosted the Critics Choice Award at the Barker Hanger on January 4, 2026.During the ceremony, Handler mentioned rapper Nicki Minaj in her monologue. Handler was discussing the film Sinners when she said:"Sinners was a massive blockbuster! Although, I haven’t been invited into a Black person’s house since, except Nicki Minaj’s, but who wants to go over there?."This remark has since led to netizens criticizing Handler, with many taking to social media to call her out, as exemplified by the tweets quoted below:"Was this supposed to be funny?."Stats of Minaj @statsofminajLINK@BuzzingPop was this suppose to be funny?Some netizens called her out on her joke, while others defended her, saying that jokes are scripted in Award shows."I see the sheep mentality and mentioning Nicki because everyone’s dog piling her right now …but this is just a blatantly racist joke. Wasn’t really funny at all." one netizen stated."Barbz, let’s not be upset at this. All those jokes are scripted, she spoke on literally damn near everybody," a netizen stated.Welp there will be a Chelsea Handler bar in the next album LMFAO," one commenter joked."This is just an underhanded insult to the black community if you think about it…" another commenter added."What a strange thing to say.." one X user stated.Chelsea Handler has been criticized for being controversial in the pastChelsea Handler's above-mentioned comment about Nicki Minaj is not the only time she has been criticized for controversial comments. In 2014, Handler commented on the film 12 Years of Slave and actress Lupita Nyong'o's Oscar wins. Handler tweeted via The Huffington Post Twitter (now X) account:"Congratulations #lupita To pre order #ugandabekiddingme go to http://amzn.to/1pS4qpG #Oscars.""Congratulations #12yearsaslave Go to Africa or buy #ugandabekiddingme http://amzn.to/1de1ka9 #aheadofthecurve #Oscars."In 2017, a video emerged of Chelsea Handler making controversial comments during a comedy show. The video, still available on X, shows Handler asking if there were any Black people in the audience and then remarking that she was thankful for the light so she could see them.In another incident, she told Jimmy Kimmel that she had slapped a Black woman back in 2019 on the set of the documentary film Hello Privilege. Handler was also forced by Netflix to undergo racial sensitivity training as well as se**al harrasment training.Chelsea Handler has also been criticised in the past for her defence of former Senator Al Franken, who faced se**al assault complaints from multiple women.