Chelsea Handler's tweet about Texas church shooting draws ire

Comedian and television host Chelsea Handler weighed in on the deadly church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, with a controversial take that quickly drew ire.

"Innocent people go to church on Sunday to honor their God, and while doing so, get shot in [sic] killed. What country? America. Why? Republicans," Handler tweeted Sunday afternoon.

The backlash was swift, with people saying she was silent about the shooting of Republican Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), calling her tweet a "disgusting statement" and saying she has "a dark heart."

Sunday's shooting at a Baptist church claimed at least 26 lives, including pregnant women and children. The suspected shooter has been identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, an Air Force veteran and native of New Braunfels, Texas, according to The Associated Press. Kelley was found dead after the shooting, officials said.

This year, Handler has been outspoken in her criticism of President Donald Trump and his family. Her comment comes just weeks after she announced her intention to discontinue her Netflix talk show, "Chelsea," to "focus on projects that have significance to [her]," including "working together on a documentary where I'll engage with people I don't talk with enough – people of different ethnicities, religions and political philosophies," Page Six reported.

And that wasn't her only tweet about the shooting.

In response to Trump's tweet that he was "monitoring" the Sutherland Springs shooting developments from Asia, Handler tweeted that he had "no capacity to monitor anything that doesn't involve lining your pockets."

Cox Media Group