Hold onto your seats, folks, because Shane Gillis is making a triumphant return to the Saturday Night Live stage, alongside the musical sensation 21 Savage. Yes, you heard it right – the same Shane Gillis who was unceremoniously kicked off the sketch comedy show in 2019 for unleashing a hailstorm of racial and homophobic slurs on a podcast. Talk about a controversial comeback!
Prepare to step into a time machine that takes us back to a not-so-distant past, when Gillis was one of the fresh faces added to the SNL cast. Little did we know that trouble was brewing behind the scenes, lurking in the depths of a dark podcast called Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. In this infamous podcast, Gillis shamelessly dropped a racial slur, claiming that “Chinatown’s freaking insane” and those “ch–s” should stay there. But wait, there’s more! He even went on to mimic a Chinese accent and mercilessly mock Chinese restaurants. Ouch!
As if that wasn’t enough to land him in hot water, additional audio emerged from another episode of this not-so-secret podcast, where Gillis and his co-host couldn’t resist ranking comedians based on their race and hurling homophobic slurs like there’s no tomorrow. Talk about a class act!
Now, rewind to 2019, when the storm hit and SNL creator Lorne Michaels had no choice but to pull the plug on Gillis. In a statement dripping with regret, Michaels confessed, “After chatting with Shane Gillis, we came to the unfortunate decision that he won’t be joining the SNL family. We wanted a diverse range of voices and perspectives on the show, and we initially hired Shane solely based on his comedic talent and impressive audition. Regrettably, we were unaware of his previous remarks that have now resurfaced. Let’s just say the language he used was beyond offensive, hurtful, and simply unacceptable. We apologize for our oversight and the shortcomings of our vetting process.”
But folks, hold onto your hats, because the story doesn’t end there. Fast forward to the present, and Gillis has risen from the ashes like a phoenix, snatching the host spot during the SNL show on February 3rd, alongside the talented Ayo Edebiri. It seems like forgiveness is the name of the game here, as Gillis gets a second chance to make us laugh – and hopefully keep his slurs in a locked vault.
