Comedian Chelsea Handler said there are “too many white men” in late-night TV these days, and she thinks this is the perfect time to come back to the genre, “to be representing women.”
The 47-year-old recently spoke with Variety magazine about her latest guest hosting gig on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and said that she’s ready to return to late-night TV to share her “very strong and loud opinions.” Handler said despite “a white guy” being “on our side” on the late-night shows, it’s just different hearing the perspective of a woman.
“I feel like this is a time,” Handler shared. “Where it’s so important to be represented and to be representing women and to remind people why it’s so important to be loud and to be strong and to be indefatigable about it and to get up and say something.”
“It gives a lot of people comfort when they have somebody speaking for them — you know, not just a white guy, who I’m sure is on our side, but it’s just different,” she added. “There’s really nobody that can experience what it’s like to be a woman other than one of us. So having anybody else comment on that, white men’s opinions are pretty irrelevant.”
Chelsea Handler Is Ready to Return to Late-Night: ‘There Are Too Many White Men Doing the Same Job’ (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/VdjOLs09C1
— Variety (@Variety) July 1, 2022
The former host of the E! “Chelsea Lately” show admitted she has not “had any conversations with anyone other than my agents” who she said were “testing the waters to see how interested I was.” But the actress made it clear she’s definitely “interested in getting back out there” and would be “talking to all these people about what those opportunities look like.”
“It’s the same white man problem. There are too many white men doing the same job,” Handler claimed. “I can’t explain why there aren’t more women hosting shows — maybe it’s a lack of interest, but I doubt it. I think that people think it’s a man’s job.”
“I thought I made a real dent by doing my show and proving to people that you can be a woman and host a late night show, but it seems like people need to be reminded one more time,” she added. “And I might be that person to remind them.”
“Chelsea Lately” was on the E! network from 2007-2014. She then did “Chelsea” on Netflix for two seasons from 2016-2017. At the time, Handler said she was walking away from the show to become a more “knowledgeable and engaged citizen” on political issues.