Sherri Shepherd did not fall for the internet-fueled prophecy that the Rapture was coming on Tuesday.
“I have been through this before,” she joked during the Wednesday, September 24 edition of her daytime talk show. “I used to be in a religion that told me that the Rapture was coming. They told us to get our house in order. And I said, ‘Why? I’m not going to need a house where I am going. I don’t need those worldly possessions.’”
Shepherd, 58, had failed to see the point in tending to financial obligations here on Earth.
“I didn’t pay my bills. I didn’t pay my taxes,” the Sherri host said. “I did not pay my traffic tickets because why would I pay anything when the world’s about to end? My registration had been expired for two years. I had seriously $10,000 worth of unpaid moving violations.”
Despite the traffic citations, “Why would I show up to court when the world is about to end and I’m about to get taken up to heaven?” she asked. “Jesus don’t care about no parking tickets!”
Shepherd continued, “The world never ended. I went to jail. And you can tell I was not expecting to go to jail ’cause when the police pulled me over, I was wearing this.”
At that moment, a throwback photo flashed onscreen of her sporting a brightly colored psychedelic shirt, platform heels and a big smile.
“I was on my way to perform at the Comedy Store in Hollywood and I didn’t know, so they picked me up,” she recalled. “I went to jail for eight days and because I fell for the Rapture, I became a hardened criminal.”
UPDATE 6/11/25, 10:15 a.m. ET: Sherri Shepherd has officially confirmed which Hollywood star allegedly confronted her at a recent Broadway performance. During an appearance on The Breakfast Club, Shepherd revealed that the previously “unnamed” actress who approached her at Othello earlier this year was Nia Long. “I don’t know who Nia Long had me confused […]
The comedian’s monologue referenced a recent claim by Joshua Mhlakela that Jesus had appeared in his dream and informed him that the Rapture, in which some Christians believe, would take place on Tuesday, September 23. Mhlakela’s message circulated widely on TikTok, sparking alarm among believers and joking among the non.
“Everybody on TikTok started spreading the word that the Rapture was coming yesterday,” Shepherd said Wednesday. “People were getting their affairs in order, but it didn’t happen. And let me tell you, I believe in the Rapture. I believe it was coming. But this one, I didn’t fall for the okeydoke. Because I have been through this before.”
