Speaking on Fox News, conservative podcast host Jesse Kelly told network personality Tucker Carlson that he can't imagine that comedian Chelsea Handler—or any woman for that matter—could live a fulfilling life without bearing children.
Kelly, who complained "feminists" like Handler have been deceived by society into believing that “you can be a girl boss and you can do anything a man can do," issued his remarks after Handler, 47, appeared in a Daily Show video about enjoying “a day in the life of a childless woman," which included doing “whatever the f**k I feel like.”
After Carlson declared Handler's video was designed to “make you feel good about being an aging, deeply unlikable woman who never had kids," Kelly suggested Handler is "trying to pretend" to be happy while living the life of a single, childless woman.
Video of Kelly's remarks was shared by Kat Abu, who works for Media Matters for America (MMA), a politically left-leaning 501, nonprofit organization and media watchdog group.
You can hear what Kelly said in the video below.
Kelly was clearly perturbed by Handler's video, which included a joke about the way “motherhood is treated as a woman’s essential purpose in life as if our destiny is to let a tiny stranger rip a hole through our Pikachu from the inside out.”
He said:
“[Women have] been told that they should do a career and don’t do a family or anything like that and soon you’re Chelsea Handler ... and your Valentine’s Day date for the 10th year in a row is a 10-year-old copy of Magic Mike and a half-full bottle of Xanax and you’re trying to pretend like you’re happy, but you’re not happy."
“It’s actually not her fault. She’s been lied to by a country that has lost its way.”
The segment prompted many social media users to condemn both Carlson and Kelly for their misogynistic remarks.
Kelly's comments about Handler come as Fox News continues to face criticism for airing segments the network's detractors say are both sexist and misogynist.
In December, for instance, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley was mocked online after telling Carlson men should be prepared to fight "liberal culture" by being “something more than a consumer of pornography” and starting families.
Hawley said getting married is "the single greatest act of rebellion if you like against the liberal culture that is suppressing people's desires, that's suppressing their potential." He suggested his advice should also appeal to young women because getting married and having children is "what people are built to do, and again, young people want to be challenged in this way."
Not long before Hawley's appearance on Fox News, network personality Jesse Watters was criticized after he absurdly demanded that single women "get married" so they stop voting for Democrats.
Watters' remark came as Fox News hosts collectively reeled over midterm election results, which did not result in the "red wave" Republican legislators and pollsters had predicted.
A visibly annoyed Watters blamed single women and voters under the age of 40 for the election results, suggesting that these consequences could be avoided if single women get married and “settle down” because they have for the time being been "captured" by Democrats.
UPDATE: After the Tucker Carlson segment obsessing over her lack of children aired, Chelsea Handler clapped back with an Instagram video in which she queried:
“Why would I even need my own children when I get to hear these crybabies all the time?”
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