That was quick! Shane Gillis, who was one of three new hires for the upcoming 45th season of Saturday Night Live, has been fired from the show days after videos of him making bigoted comments came to light.
“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL,'” an SNL spokesperson on behalf of Lorne Michaels said in a statement to CNN on Monday, September 16. “We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition for SNL. We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. 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.”
Shane, 38, was taken to task after several defamatory remarks he made about Chinese-Americans and homosexuals during episodes of his and fellow comedian Matt McCusker‘s Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast were brought to light on social media.
“The translation between you and the waiter is such a f***ing hassle, I’m pointing at it,” Shane said in a now-deleted video. “Chinatown’s f***ing nuts. Let the f***ng [Chinese slur] live there.”
Shane and Matt also discussed comedians adopting a confessional style to their comedy. They mocked them by using homophobic slurs such as “white f*ggot comics” and “f***ing gayer than ISIS.”
https://twitter.com/Shanemgillis/status/1173690932832505856
Shane took to his Twitter after his SNL firing was announced, where he appeared to have zero remorse over the situation.
“It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are,” he began. “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away. Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B19XtKgJ1kb/
Bowen Yang, who is SNL’s first Chinese-American cast member and third to be openly gay, is one of the show’s now two new stars for its 45th season. Woody Harrelson (host) and Billie Eilish (musical guest) will kick things off when the Emmy-winning series returns on September 28.