Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, has said that he didn’t want to fire Shane Gillis from the show but was ordered to by executives at NBC.
In 2019, Gillis was fired shortly after it was announced he was joining the cast following a public outcry about the comedian’s history of making racist and homophobic comments.
Gillis was removed from the SNL cast before he even appeared in an episode but was welcomed back in February 2024 as a host and used his opening monologue to joke about his abrupt dismissal.
Michaels, who created SNL in 1975 and has worked on the show consistently since 1985, has now said that the decision to fire Gillis did not come from him.
“That was very strong from the people in charge. And obviously I was not on that side, but I understood it,” the 79-year-old told the Wall Street Journal admitting that he kept in touch with the comedian after the firing.
Recalling the controversy, Michaels said: “He said something stupid, but it got blown up into the end of the world. I was angry. I thought, ‘You haven’t seen what we’re going to do, and what I’m going to try to bring out in him’ because I thought he was the real thing.”
After his firing, an SNL spokesperson issued a statement reading: After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL.
“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 responded to the news of his sacking on his Twitter account, writing: “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t get taken away.”
He added: “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.”
Gillis has since become one of the biggest names in stand-up comedy releasing a comedy special, Beautiful Dogs, on Netflix in 2023 as well as a sitcom, Tires, on the platform.
