Why Was Shane Gillis Fired From ‘SNL’?
Comedian Shane Gillis returned to television with a stand-up special on Netflix after being fired from SNL.
Gillis’s special, Beautiful Dogs, is controversial – similar to why he was fired from Saturday Night Live. SNL fans may not remember Gillis from the show because he was fired after four days on the job for homophobic slurs he made on a 2018 podcast.
Gillis was hired in 2019, along with Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman. Beyond homophobic remarks, Gillis also made a racist slur against Chinese people. Yang is the first SNL cast member of Chinese descent.
‘SNL’ announced that Shane Gillis was fired from the show
Before he performed on SNL, a spokesperson for Lorne Michaels announced Gillis was fired. “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL,” the spokesperson said (via Daily Mail).
“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,” the spokesperson added.
“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,” the statement added. “We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”
Did Shane Gillis apologize after being fired from ‘SNL’?
Initially, Gillis shrugged off being fired.
“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,” Gillis tweeted.
“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.”
He later apologized on Twitter. “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. 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,” he wrote.
“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,” he added.
Shane Gillis was also canceled
Gillis soon realized he had been “canceled” after being fired from SNL, but leaned into the fact he “blew up” Twitter.
“It was a bad joke’, he shared on Bussin’ With The Boys. “I’m not saying I shouldn’t have been fired. It all blew up… It was number one on Twitter for like three days.”
Even if he worked something out with SNL, Gillis knew he would eventually get in trouble. “I had a feeling,” he said. “I knew it was coming the second that I got in trouble.” Adding, “I understood the rules, but why do we have those rules?”
