At Sunday’s gala, the comic referred to the rapper’s hit docuseries on and rivalry with the fallen rap game kingpin.

Chelsea Handler attends the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on Jan. 4, 2026, in Santa Monica. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

On Sunday night at the Critics’ Choice Awards, host Chelsea Handler paid tribute to the late Rob Reiner and landed several digs at Hollywood executives and stars, including one aimed at rapper-producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the host’s former partner, regarding his hit Netflix series about his rap-world rival, Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Handler and Jackson briefly dated in the early 2010s. Their two-month romance started after Jackson appeared as a guest on her E! Network talk show, then wooed the comic by sending her copious bouquets. Handler has said that Jackson is her “favorite ex” — but that didn’t mean he was safe from being zinged at this weekend’s awards show when referencing the Netflix film, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, and his long-standing rivalry, which the “In Da Club” rapper has played down in press interviews lately.

“The cast of KPop Demon Hunters is here,” Handler told the audience, setting up her punchline, “not to be confused with Netflix’s other music movie, 50 Cent: Diddy Hunter.”

In early December, Netflix released Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a sprawling four-part series from the now-imprisoned mogul’s longtime rival. Its in-depth interviews with those who have been around Combs for decades bring new information to light on several fronts, from the death of Biggie Smalls to Combs’ federal trial, which ended in July in a split verdict that landed the fallen mogul in a New Jersey prison for 50 months.

Jackson, who always seems to be game for an online war of words with a fellow celebrity, has stayed mum on Handler’s Critics Choice Awards joke at his expense, so far. But the rapper and G-Unit chief executive did chime in this week on some other Diddy-related news when the trailer dropped for the forthcoming docuseries project from The Zeus Network that will share the lives of Justin and Christian Combs, the sons of the rap mogul, as Diddy faced federal indictment and a high-profile trial last summer.

In the brief first trailer for the forthcoming docuseries, released on Dec. 29, Justin and Christian Combs are seen sitting together, watching television coverage of their father’s trial. The two grow visibly emotional as rapid-fire footage plays, including shots of the young men’s daily arrival and interactions with swarming press outside the downtown Manhattan courthouse. The brothers exchange weary looks before a phone rings with a call from the correctional facility where their dad is an inmate.

In an Instagram post after the trailer was released, Jackson shared an audio-doctored version of parts of the docuseries trailer; the audio has been manipulated to include a woman’s voice reading a legal complaint that alleged that Christian Combs committed aggravated rape against a yacht staff member in 2022.

In 2024, Grace O’Marcaigh filed a suit in civil court in Los Angeles, accusing Christian “King” Combs of physically and sexually assaulting her while they were on a yacht during a Combs family holiday in St. Martin in December 2022. His father, Sean “Diddy” Combs, is named in the civil suit as aiding the alleged assault. O’Marcaigh worked as a steward on the yacht at the time.

“This is a prepaid collect call from Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix,” the voiceover begins, pulling from the original trailer. Then, spliced in at that point in 50 Cent’s Instagram version: “… the alleged assault. Woman claims that the three masked men, when she identified one as Sean Combs, due to his mannerisms and Justin calling him pups, then arrived and repeatedly raped her over a period of time. The plaintiff, a former yacht stewardess, alleged that in December 2022, while working on a yacht chartered by Diddy, Christian Combs forced her into drinking a potentially spiked tequila shot, cornered her in a room, groped her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex. She reported the incident to the captain, but alleged a cover-up and was later …”

Following the federal trial, Sean Combs is facing an avalanche of civil lawsuits for alleged crimes committed against those in his orbit over decades. He has denied any wrongdoing in these cases, and the legal complaints have been dismissed as opportunistic by his attorneys. Christian Combs has denied the assault allegations made against him by O’Marcaigh, calling them “lewd and baseless.”