Several women interrupted Chelsea Handler’s show in Virginia on Friday night to protest the comedian’s strong support for Israel throughout the Israel-Hamas war. In a video shared on Instagram, a woman is shown yelling at Handler, who first replied, “I can’t hear you,” before adding, “Oh, honey, please. This is not what this night is for.”
Handler then asked for the woman to be removed from the show. But the audience member’s calls were soon echoed by others in a coordinated protest, one of whom also stood and called out at Handler, “Palestinian babies — you’re a genocide supporter, genocide supporter!”
The footage was shared on Instagram by Race2Dinner, an account that hosts “Radically Honest Conversations About Race.” In the caption, the account wrote, “If you want to see what it looks like for white women to actually DO the work rather than sitting back, posting black squares and listening and learning, this is it. Shut down white feminists everywhere, at all times.”
“Last night, a ton of white women sprung into ACTION to disrupt Chelsea Handler, a loud and proud Zionist, show in Richmond, VA,” the account stated. “The mostly white audience got violent, poured wine on protestors, put hands on protestors, tripped protestors, the cops were called and one was arrested. White women against genocide need to be doing more of THIS and less obsessing about feelings.”
Elsewhere in the clip, audience members are seen helping authorities identify the protesters.
“You guys should be this angry about genocide, not people standing up! Be angry about genocide. Be angry about genocide. Be angry about genocide, and people dying — children are dying with our tax dollars,” one woman told angry members of the audience. After one audience member answered, “They should die,” the woman retorted, “They should die? Say that on camera.”
Another protester, presumably the one who was arrested, is also seen being escorted away from the show in handcuffs. She told the person filming that police pointed a taser “at my kidneys,” adding that she was told, “they’re going to tase me if I don’t give them both hands.”
Handler, who is Jewish, has drawn the ire of pro-Palestine protesters for comments she’s made in support of Israel during the war in Gaza. In February, Handler teamed up with Israeli actress Noa Tishby for a video about misinformation about Israel that has surfaced during the war.
In the video, Handler said, “I want to be clear that we are pro-Palestinian and anti-Hamas. And it’s OK to question Israeli policies and still be pro-Israel.”
“Progressives must love Israel,” she continued. “Israel is our greatest defense in the Middle East for all of Western democracy and Western values. If Israel goes down, guess who they will come for next?”
The protesters appeared to be connected to Here 4 The Kids, an organization founded by Tina Strawn and Saira Rao in 2023. The organization’s website states that in addition to their work towards gun reform in the United States and to combat climate change, “we are currently seeing the indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian children with our United States tax dollars, which is both unforgivable and causing profound fractures within our own democracy.”
The organization also shared posts on Instagram about the protests at the Handler event.
Audience members who attended the show offered their takes on the situation on X (formerly Twitter). The Advocate’s Christopher Wiggins wrote while at the show, “Craziness at @chelseahandler’s Richmond show where pro-Palestine protesters continue to interrupt the program. Chelsea is doing her best to keep the show going, but the coordinated disruptions are significant.”
Suzanne Molner noted that Handler’s show continued despite the protests and “did not end early.”
The protesters also had plenty of support on social media. Actor and musician Calvin Seabrooks joked, “If yt women shut down every Chelsea Handler show I will listen to the whole Dead Poets Society album” from Taylor Swift.
Watch the events unfold at Chelsea Handler’s show in the video above.
