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Watch comedian Chelsea Peretti tear Silicon Valley a new one

Watch comedian Chelsea Peretti tear Silicon Valley a new one

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The annual TechCrunch awards continue to be a masochistic affair

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For the past few years, TechCrunch’s Crunchies Awards — the closest thing Silicon Valley has to the Oscars — has done away with Silicon Valley insiders as emcees and replaced them with comedians, in search of a little extra star power for the awards night.

Last year, the show was aptly (and controversially) hosted by Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller, and last night, comedian Chelsea Peretti, star of Fox’s Brooklyn 99, took on the 9th annual show at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.

But if the audience thought Peretti would be a cushier alternative to Miller, they were quickly proven wrong during her opening monologue. Taking shots at the rich man’s bubble that has taken over much of the Bay Area, Peretti opens the show by telling the audience, "I love what you did with the poor people."

All that success breeds a need for punishment

From there, Peretti, (who is the sister of Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti) continued the digs at the ultra-rich, largely male tech industry. She mentions that she was specifically asked to speak on diversity, and then suggests that TechCrunch should try hiring a non-white host.

Peretti’s monologue comes after a year of increased scrutiny not only on the Crunchies themselves, but on diversity within the tech industry, as well as ethical concerns over companies like Airbnb and Uber. The opening monologue joke that got the most scandalized gasps was aimed at the ride-sharing company: "If this were basketball, Lyft would be the Clippers and Uber would be Kobe Bryant, because of all the rape stuff."