Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Already a member?
Log in
Shane Gillis is in hot water for multiple reasons after his divisive return to Saturday Night Live this weekend.
The comedian, 38, raised eyebrows when he accidentally blurted out “f***” in a Dr. Seuss-themed skit during Saturday’s show.
In the sketch, Gillis played a concerned son who is trying to stop Sam-I-Am, played by Andrew Dismukes, from harassing his father, Mikey Day, to eat green eggs and ham. He told Dismukes: “Bro, it’s a non-starter. He said he doesn’t f***ing — jeez — like ‘em.”
He was visibly flustered after the on-air blunder, which happened too fast for NBC to censor out in the live broadcast, although it was edited out of clips put online.
Gillis quickly apologized to the audience at the end of the show while saying goodnight to the crowd alongside musical guest Rosalia, adding, “Sorry about earlier.”
However, it seems the podcaster was focused on the wrong controversy.
Gillis has been met with a mountain of backlash on social media after he described women who go to the gym as “whores” in his opening monologue on the show.
“I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t realize women just dressed like whores now,” Gillis said at the start of the episode, prompting groaning and jeering from the audience as he spoke about activewear. “Look, I’m sorry there’s no other way to describe it.”
One person wrote on X: “I dont know what turns my stomach more, the fact that Shane Gillis was on Saturday Night Live tonight and said women at the gym ‘dress like whores’ or that there was people in that audience who found his disgusting bit of so-called humor funny.”
“When did it become cool to call women whores b/c of their clothing? I quit watching after about half of the Shane Gillis monologue, it was so disgusting,” another complained, while one viewer added, “Shane Gillis choosing now of all times to do a monologue slutshaming ordinary women for what they wear is genuinely disgusting.”
Watch Apple TV free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial.
Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Another person pointed out, “When Shane Gillis apologized, it took me too long to realize it was for saying f*** and not calling women whores.”
The Independent has contacted Gillis for further comment.
Although this marked his third time hosting the show, Gillis previously had a complicated history with SNL. He was hired as a cast member on the show in 2019 alongside Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman, but was fired before ever making his debut after podcast clips resurfaced of him making homophobic and racist jokes.
After his firing, Gillis apologized to “anyone actually offended” by his comedy, and described himself in a statement as a “comedian who pushes boundaries.”
“If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,” he said at the time. “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.”