Critics Choice Awards Host Chelsea Handler Roasts Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Ralph Fiennes & Colin Farrell In Opening Monologue

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Without saying the actual words ‘Donald Trump’, Critics Choice Awards host Chelsea Handler, who introduced herself as “your DEI host,” fired up her monologue with jokes where Golden Globe host Nikki Glaser feared to go: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.“Thank you for providing us with distraction,” Handler joked about the legally contentious duo who aren’t here at the ceremony today.

Acknowledging that “we have been through a lot lately, not only here in Los Angeles but our entire country,” a reference to the devastating LA wildfires and the erratic early days of the second Trump term, nothing spells relief for Handler like the It Ends With Us duo. “I’m grateful, I think we’re all grateful, and I think we’re good,” she said about them. “No matter whose side you’re on, we can all agree to accept that there’s probably not going to be a sequel,” said the former E!

late night talk show host. She told the packed Santa Monica Barker Hanger: “It ends with us guys.” Speaking of her former stint as late night host, Handler then quipped, “I spent seven years on this network, I was the only woman hosting a late-night show.

Now 11 years later, look how far we’ve come. In 2025, the easiest way for a woman to get a late-night show is to get the creators of Hacks to write a fictional story about it.” Turning to her fascination of Ralph Fiennes, she said, “You’ve played a ruthless Nazi, an evil lord Dumbledore and a celibate cardinal, and somehow you’ve made me want to have sex with you in all roles, and I’m not alone.