National Post (National Edition)
Comic Gillis ‘respects’ SNL’s decision to cut him
RACIST JOKES
Saturday Night Live has parted ways with Shane Gillis, the just-hired standup comic whose past use of racist, homophobic and sexist language led to a firestorm last week.
The comedian, announced Thursday as a featured player for Season 45, was criticized for using slurs against Asians and the LGBT community in recent podcast episodes.
A spokesperson for SNL producer Lorne Michaels confirmed the development Monday: “After speaking with Shane Gillis, we have decided he will not be joining SNL.”
“We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days,” the statement read. “The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”
Gillis responded on Twitter. “Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction,” he wrote. “I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity.”
Michaels’ spokesperson said that Gillis was hired “on the strength of his talent as a comedian” and his audition. “We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show.”
SNL also added two other featured performers last week: Bowen Yang, who was widely celebrated as the show’s first cast member of East Asian descent, and Chloe Fineman. But hours after the casting announcement, freelance comedy journalist Seth Simons called attention to a 2018 episode of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast in which Gillis and co-host Matt McCusker used slurs against Chinese people, mocking their accents and making racist references to Chinatown. (All of the episodes have been scrubbed from the podcast’s YouTube channel.)
Gillis addressed the mounting backlash by tweeting that he is a “comedian who pushes boundaries. Sometimes I miss.” He added he was “happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually been offended by anything I’ve said.”
Vice reported Friday that Gillis had used an anti-Semitic and racist slur to describe Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang in May while appearing as a guest on another podcast. “I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesn’t take cheap shots,” the entrepreneur responded on Twitter, but said he didn’t think Gillis should lose his newly announced SNL job over the remark.