Shane Gillis is set to host Saturday Night Live on February 24, with musical guest 21 Savage at 30 Rock. The news came out on the late-night live sketch comedy variety show, which featured The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri.
The stand-up comedian got hired as a new cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series in 2019, only to be fired five days later. He received his marching orders for using racial and homophobic slurs in 2018’s Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast episode. The video has been deleted now.
Shane Gillis’ Love-Hate Relationship With SNL
At first, Shane Gillis was set to join SNL as a new featured player. But plans changed when an old video of him surfaced in which he used a racial slur against Asians.
In the YouTube video (via The Hollywood Reporter), he was seen saying, “Chinatown’s f*cking nuts. Let the f*cking ch—s live there.” Gillis was also seen mimicking a Chinese accent and making fun of Chinese restaurants.
After public backlash, an SNL spokesperson, on behalf of creator Lorne Michaels, stated that Gillis wouldn’t be part of the program. They said at time:
“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.”
After NBC fired him, Gillis took to Twitter, writing he was “always a Mad TV guy anyway.” Later on Instagram, he posted an apology (via People):
“I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said. My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.”
New cast members who joined the 45th season of SNL in Gillis’ absence were Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman. Ironically, Gillis, who used a derogatory term for Chinese people, got hired when SNL welcomed its first Chinese-American cast member, Bowen Yang, who is also gay.
Fans Reactions on Shane Gillis’ SNL Return
Shane Gillis is famous for his podcast, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, co-hosted with Matt McCusker. The podcast consistently ranks high on Apple and holds the top spot on Patreon. Gillis is also part of YouTube’s Gilly & Keeves, a sketch series co-created and co-written with John McKeever.
Despite his social media success and a top-ranking Apple podcast, along with a Netflix special, the 36-year-old has been receiving criticism for his recent LGBTQ jokes. See what they have to say:
SNL is actually dead now.
— Matt Blake (@mattblake94) February 4, 2024
Shameful
— Kathy (@kdusc) February 4, 2024
Shane Gillis hosting SNL in a few weeks? Gross.
Idfc if he apologized, the intent he had was racist and homophobic
— kaitlyn (@kdanbaybe) February 4, 2024
Um, What? Wasn't Shane Gillis, the comedian who was under fire for using racist and homophobic slurs on his podcast & was fired from Saturday Night Live? So now he is good enough to host #SNL? https://t.co/yYBHVmMIh0
— G-Barb ☮🐾🎼📚🎬🐶⚖️💙🇺🇦💛🌻💜🐾 (@wilycyotee) February 4, 2024
What’s the rationale for him to host?
Shane Gillis to Host ‘SNL’ After Being Fired in 2019 for Racial, Homophobic Slurs https://t.co/X2m2aIEZTa via @thr— Potshots from the Peanut Gallery 🗳️ (@reviewingstand) February 4, 2024
Yeah, and they’re having Shane Gillis hosting next week?? After they fired him in 2019 for racial and homophobic slurs?? What is happening???
— Mae Murray (@maeisafraid) February 4, 2024
Gillis is popular for his gay jokes and pro-conservative takes. During a comedy skit, the sketch writer said (posted via Comedy Corner):
“Gay Vikings. Dude, you’re just some villager looking out on the shoreline. See a bunch of Viking long ships coming. You’re like, ‘oh no, it’s the Vikings. They’re gonna r*pe our wives and daughters.’ They then they pull up their f*cking rainbow flag on their boat. You’re just like, oh f*ck.”
In the comedy skit, Gillis made fun of Vikings by showing them differently than usual. He joked by turning around the idea that Vikings are tough fighters, suggesting it’s funny or strange that they would support LGBTQ pride unexpectedly.
Watch Shane Gillis hosting Saturday Night Live on NBC and Peacock on 24th February, 2024.
