Shane Gillis Fired from SNL

Posted on by Ariyanna Smith, DI

Less than a week after landing a position on the NBC sketch series Saturday Night Live, Shane Gillis has been fired after footage of him using racial slurs resurfaced.

What We Know:

  • Shane Gillis was one of three new cast members announced to join the 45th season of SNL. The show decided to let him go after videos of him making offensive comments on fellow comedian Matt McCusker’s podcast resurfaced on the internet.

  • In one segment, Gillis can be heard saying, “Let the f—ing ch–ks live there,” speaking of a Chinatown neighborhood. Gillis also referred to 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang as a “Jew ch–k” on another podcast hosted by Luis J. Gomez and Zac Amico.

  • Buzzfeed reported that in another episode of McCusker’s podcast, the two were discussing “Muslim heaven” when Gillis stated, “You gotta spill blood. You gotta praise Allah by spilling blood.”

  • An SNL spokesperson commented on the situation saying, “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 a 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.”
  • Gillis published an apology on his Twitter saying, “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away.” He continued, “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.”
  • The comedian wrote another statement on Twitter saying, “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss… 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.”

SNL returns on Sept. 28 with Woody Harrelson hosting and performances from Billie Eilish.

Related Posts