Host calls female musician a 'b****' at tech awards ceremony in US

TJ Miller started heckling Gabi Hozwarth after she booed one of his jokes

Gabi Holzwarth attends the TIME 100 Gala in 2014 (Getty)

A US comedian has been heavily criticised on social media after he called a female musician a “b****” at a prestigious Silicon Valley awards ceremony.

TJ Miller, an actor who stars in HBO series Silicon Valley, addressed the remarks to musician and app-founder Gabi Holzwarth at last night's Crunchie Awards - celebrating tech start-ups in Silicon Valley - after she booed his negative remarks about taxi app Uber.

Unbeknown to the actor and presenter, Ms Holzwarth is in a relationship with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Mr Miller, addressing her from stage after she booed, quipped: “Hey, Asians aren't supposed to be this entitled in the United States.”

His remarks were greeted by the audience, previously apparently responding well to Mr Miller’s mocking of their extreme wealth and odd clothing choices, with exhaled breath and low boos.

After Ms Holzwarth continued to heckle, Mr Miller responded by informing her “I’m talking about California, you b****.”

To which she immediately shouted back to the stage: “Did you just call me a bitch?”

Afterwards, Mr Miller moved on to questioning why she was there to which she explained she was representing her company, a new app called Shyp.

The evening got weirder when Mr Miller realised Ms Holzwarth had brought her dog to the ceremony.

“Miss, miss, do you have your dog here? Hold it up,” an incredulous Miller asked, before adding: “I’m going to have to ask you not to be funnier than the comedian tonight.”

Ms Holzwarth then pitched the entire concept of her app to the comedian, while he interrupted with questions such as, “This b**** from Palo Alto?”

Head of Twitter’s media Katie Stanton wrote on the social media website: that was the most uncomfortable event I’ve ever attended as a woman.”

It was not the only moment during that evening which raised eyebrows. Host’s later joked about another female guest’s “hooha”.

Dave McClure, 500 Startup founding partner, also tweeted: “This is going WAY off the rails”.

However, the spat appears to have ended amiably after Shyp tweeted the comedian the following morning, saying “we accept your apology :)”.