Chelsea Tells Piers Morgan He's Nonsense

We can't say we didn't see this coming. Monday night, Chelsea Handler was a guest on Piers Morgan Live, to talk about her new book Uganda Be Kidding Me (ahhhhh epic cringe) and the late-night talk show host was not totally forgiving of Piers. Aside from her book, Handler came onto the show to discuss her feelings about being marginalized in the world of late-night television. After Bill Carter's New York Times piece about late-night TV hosts mentioned Chelsea Handler as an innocuous other, not a competitor for late-night viewers, she was rightfully upset. "You don't have to like me, but you have to acknowledge I'm in the landscape of late-night television," Handler told Morgan.

Which is a fair point — though her politics are dubious, Handler is right: we DON'T have to like her, but we do have to respect her presence on the late-night television scene, which is primarily a boys club. She mentioned potentially leaving her show, but not until she found a replacement. It's respectable that Handler feels a responsibility to represent women, even if you're not her biggest fan.

Handler is no stranger to controversy, and she's made a name from it. When she took over the Huffington Post Twitter for the Oscars, she posted a glib and offensive tweet about Lupita Nyong'o in relation to her own book ("Congratulations #12yearsaslave Go to Africa or buy #ugandabekiddingme"). She addressed the backlash last night on Morgan, saying that she's not a racist and she can't take those claims seriously.

What we should take seriously, though, is Handler's representation in the late-night game. No matter what you think of her, she's doing women proud, and that's something that should be recognized.

You can watch Handler tell Morgan that she has to "tolerate his nonsense" here.

Image: CNN