Shane Gillis has been fired by Saturday Night Live before ever stepping foot on its legendary stage. The comedian — who came under extreme fire just days after his hiring last week after audio surfaced of some very inappropriate (read: RACIST) jokes and remarks — was let go by NBC on Monday. “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL,” said a show spokesperson on behalf of SNL boss Lorne Michaels. This statement continued as follows: 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. Not long after Gillis was confirmed as one of three new faces on Saturday Night Live Season 45 (along with Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang), a video resurfaced of the so-called comedian engaging in racist rhetoric. “Chinatown’s f-ckin nuts,” Gillis can be heard saying in a clip from a September 2018 podcast posted to a YouTube channel called Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. “Let the f-ckin ch-nks live there,” he adds. Earlier this year, Gillis also referred to Presidential candidate Andrew Yang by this same derogatory term for Asians. On another episode of this podcst, Gillis referred to Judd Apatow and Chris Gethard as “white f-ckin got comics,” calling them “f-cking gayer than ISIS.” Aware of the immediate backlash against him, Gillis released a very lame non-apology that used his profession as an excuse for his language and viewpoint. “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries,” he wrote on Twitter, as you can see above. Gillis then added, condescending and pathetic fashion: “I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses. I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.” In response to his firing, meanwhile, Gillis Tweeted in an equally shameful and cocky manner. “It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are. I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away,” he wrote, concluding with a dig at the program itself: 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 sad truth is that this controversy likely will lead to some fame and riches for Gillis. He’s actually scheduled to meet with Yang down the road, Tweeted the Democratic hopeful himself. “Shane Gillis reached out. Looks like we will be sitting down together soon,” Yang wrote this afternoon. Where do YOU stand on this scandal? We’re all for open dialogue and on people learning from past mistakes. But does Seth Gillis sound like someone who is doing this? Or is capable of doing this? Or does he just sound like an unfunny loser who relies on racist tropes and played-out stereotypes to try and come across as edgy and/or relevant?
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Shane Gillis: Fired by Saturday Night Live Over Racist Jokes, Responds Like a Total Douche Canoe
