On the same day she announced that her Netflix talk show would be ending after this season, Chelsea Handler also taped her first Chelsea episode since the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations came to light.
As part of her “Public Apologies” segment, Handler offered an apology on behalf of men. “Specifically, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Bill O’Reilly, R. Kelly, Mike Tyson, Casey Affleck and I’m going to have to stop there because I’m out of breath,” she said.
“We’re sorry for using our positions of power to sexually assault and harass women,” Handler continued, speaking for those men. “We’re sorry that we’re not the only ones guilty of this in our industry, or the only industry that has this problem.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“Women are forced to endure this type of predatory behavior in every office, even the Oval Office,” she added, referring to President Donald Trump’s own history of alleged sexual abuse. “It doesn’t matter what they wear, how they look or how they act. Or as we’ve seen, how talented, powerful or well-connected they are.”
Handler said she found it “mind-blowing” that in order for the dozens of allegations against Weinstein to become public, women had to be “brave enough to band together and speak up.” With that in mind, she also offered an apology on behalf of “all the men and women who witnessed this kind of disgusting behavior all the time and stand by and say nothing.”
In her statement about the end of Chelsea, Handler said she plans to “participate in a more meaningful way” in the nation’s political dialogue. She wrote that like so many others she was “galvanized” by the 2016 presidential election, a personal evolution that was first apparent when she decided to lead the Women’s March at the Sundance Film Festival this past January.
Also marching in the snow that day was none other than Harvey Weinstein.
