Comedienne and Democrat activist Chelsea Handler joked about having two abortions after being twice impregnated by her “first black boyfriend,” in an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM radio.
Chelsea Handler quipped of the two children she would have had if not for aborting the pregnancies. She also frames “white privilege” as an actual social from which she benefits.
Partial transcript below.
STERN: What is the next documentary going to be for Netflix? What is the topic?
HANDLER: Privilege.
STERN: White privilege?
HANDLER: Not black privilege.
STERN: Black privilege, that doesn’t exist?
HANDLER: Well, not in my world.
QUIVERS: Black privilege, Jussie Smollett seems to have benefited.
…
STERN: But Chelsea, what I’m saying is, in other words, how do you explore white privilege? Because you’re a white woman, I would imagine it’s a little difficult for you to really explore that.
HANDLER: Well, I mean it’s my life, privilege. So I have a good idea about what it is because I have it and I’m a beneficiary and I’ve benefited from it my entire life. So I thought a lot of my success came from talent — which you could argue, because there’s a lot of untalented people that are not successful —
STERN: — Which you say in your new book —
HANDER: — Right, thank you for seeing that.
STERN: Yes. By the way, when you explore — let’s stay on this topic of white privilege — when you were exploring white privilege to learn about it, is it true you went back to the first guy you ever banged, who was a black guy?
HANDLER: First, he’s wasn’t the first guy I had sex with, but I had got pregnant with him twice when I was in high school.
STERN: Twice?
HANDLER: Yeah.
STERN: And you got an abortion?
HANDLER: No, those are — I have two children, grown children. One’s 28, and one’s 29. Yeah.
…
STERN: This boyfriend, you went back to visit him to learn from white privilege from him?
HANDLER: No, what I went back to do was to show we got arrested three times when were in high school. We got caught.
STERN: You and your boyfriend?
HANDLER: My black boyfriend named Tyshawn. He and I got caught with weed — like a dimebag of weed — three separate occasions. In each occasion, the police officer told me to skedaddle and leave, and each time Tyshawn was arrested. So that was happening in front of my face to me, and I didn’t even, I mean, I was too young and stupid to even understand it.
…
He just got out of prison for 14 years.
STERN: Oh, my God.
HANDLER: So he had spent the next 14 [years in prison] when I went back to suburbia and went back to my white life and said, ‘See you later, Tyshawn. I’m over this relationship.’ Then he started using drugs, because he was being put in the system. That’s not an excuse for him, but one thing leads to another, and we all need to have a little bit more understanding.
While describing her then-forthcoming Netflix series in October, Handler described her “whiteness” as a “privilege.”
Handler described herself as “infantilized” by her own decisions, noting in the interview that she was dependent on an assistant to help her operate her shower for bathing.
Handler said of herself, “I’ve been angry my entire life. I’m not sure why. Just have a chip on my shoulder. Everyone annoys me. That’s been my constant state of agitation.” Handler is currently promoting her book, “Life Will Be the Death of Me,” and her latest Netflix series Chelsea Does.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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