Chelsea Handler jokingly called Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav a “vampire” during her hosting stint at this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards. Additionally, the comedian and actor also paid tribute to Rob Reiner and took shots at fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose film One Battle After Another took home some major honors.

Chelsea Handler calls David Zaslav a ‘vampire’ in her Critics Choice Awards speech

Chelsea Handler hosted the 31st Annual Critics’ Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 4, 2025. This marked the fourth consecutive time she hosted the ceremony. During her monologue, she touched on several topics, including a tribute to the late Rob Reiner, who was found dead in his Los Angeles home about a month earlier, as well as remarks directed at David Zaslav and Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Sinners is the story of brothers who start this really fun place for entertainment and then vampires show up, suck the life out of everybody and burn it all to the ground,” Handler said during the ceremony (via Deadline), “Fun fact: The original name of the main vampire was David Zaslav.” As she delivered the joke, the camera cut to Michael B. Jordan, who was seen smiling and shaking his head.

While referencing the film’s box office success, Handler also called out a Variety headline. She suggested that the headline downplayed its financial performance. “White Hollywood was so shook after seeing the box office numbers, Variety ran the headline: ‘Do box office numbers really matter?’” she said.

Handler later took aim at studio executives while referencing Seth Rogen’s series, The Studio. “Seth Rogen is here tonight. Years of playing stoners, slackers, and underachievers who do next to nothing all day prepared Seth for his latest role of someone who does even less, a studio head,” she said.

She also took a shot at Leonardo DiCaprio, mentioning his yacht vacation with Jeff Bezos. “It was just like the Titanic but worse because Jeff Bezos was there,” Handler said.