Less than a week after announcing Shane Gillis as one of its newest hires, Saturday Night Live has cut ties with the comedian following the surfacing of several racist and homophobic remarks .
"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided he will not be joining SNL," a Saturday Night Live spokesman said in a statement tweeted by New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff.
Gillis comes from the Philadelphia stand-up scene, where a Vulture report last week reported that at least one venue has stopped working with him due to "racist, homophobic, and sexist things hes said on and offstage." Where many situations like this in the past have been from Tweets, comments, or statements of the significant past, Gillis' remarks and comments are dated within the last year and change.
"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," the show's statement continues. "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."
A spokesperson for Saturday Night Live says that Shane Gillis will not be joining its cast this fall. pic.twitter.com/qh0B4cbdQO Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff)
Gillis had previously shared a non-apology apology to the same account, saying that he was "happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said."
Gillis frequently used slurs toward asian people, and casually used homophobic remarks on his podcast, Matt and Shane's Secret Show.
Even more recently, VICE discovered audio of Gillis unloading on presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Yang himself responded to Gillis' comments in a Tweet thread, saying "Shane - I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesnt take cheap shots. But Im happy to sit down and talk with you if youd like." Yang said later in the thread that he didn't think Gillis deserved to lose his job.
Shane - I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesnt take cheap shots. But Im happy to sit down and talk with you if youd like. https://t.co/YxbzQ5WVLX Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang)
In response to the news, Gillis shared his own statement to his Twitter account.
"It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are," he wrote. "Im a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That cant be taken away. 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. Im honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway," he wrote.
pic.twitter.com/vN0htGMBVg Shane Gillis (@Shanemgillis)
Saturday Night Live's 45th season will kick off on September 28, with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish.
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