Chelsea Handler Ended Ex Jo Koy With a Perfect Swipe

Host Chelsea Handler speaks onstage during the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Chelsea Handler has metaphorically ended her ex Jo Koy without ever mentioning him.

The comedian hosted the 2024 Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday night, and during her opening monologue, she made a joke that landed pretty well with the audience. After that, she commented, "Thank you for laughing at that. My writers wrote it" (via Us Weekly).

This was a subtle, blink-and-you'll-miss-it swipe at Koy, who hosted the Golden Globes last week and received extensive criticism for his performance. Among his most controversial moves on the night was his decision to throw his writers under the bus when some of his jokes didn't land.

Addressing his jokes, he said on stage, "Some I wrote, some other people wrote. Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue? Shut up! You’re kidding me, right? I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at."

Yep, yikes.

Asked to explain himself by the Los Angeles Times a few days later, Koy said, "I love my writers. I love all three of them and I shouted them out. And I told them like that was a moment right there where I’m just grasping. I love them and I can’t stop talking about them in every interview. They busted their a**, man."

He continued, "There’s a lot of greats that make rookie moves. That was a rookie move. Those writers are dope and that was not my intention at all. They were amazing, they had my back and I need to make sure I fix that and I will, I always will."

Well, if you say so!

As for Handler and Koy, they dated for about a year, eventually splitting up in the summer of 2022.

She wrote on Instagram at the time, "This man blew my heart open with love and because of him, my life experience has changed forever. To be loved and adored by @jokoy has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. He renewed my faith in men, in love, in being 100% who I am, and I’ve never been more optimistic for the future."

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.