In 2019, comedian Shane Gillis was announced as part of the new generation of cast members joining Saturday Night Live, alongside Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman. But before he could make his debut, Gillis — then a fresh-faced 31-year-old stand-up and podcaster from Pennsylvania — was fired over resurfaced clips of him using anti-Asian slurs and making homophobic jokes. Gillis apologized at the time, stating he was “a comedian who pushes boundaries” but one who “sometimes misses.”
Yet that fallout didn’t stop SNL from inviting him back — three separate times. His latest appearance this past Saturday night ignited opprobrium when, during a bro-y stand-up opening monologue, he joked that women at the gym “now dress like wh***s.” “Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. You’ve seen the shorts?” he asked the audience, though it felt like he was only talking to the men in the room. He said women in the gym wear neon shorts with wrinkles that go “around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look! You’re not allowed to look…because they’re filming!”
