As Saturday Night Live gears up for its season opener, one of its new hires is facing a fiery backlash for his history of making racist and homophobic remarks.
—Former NBA star Al Harrington says LAPD targets him for being Black—
Shane Gillis, who was announced as one of the new comedians hired at SNL for its 45th season, is coming under fire for his offensive attacks on gay people and racist language that even once got him fired from a gig.
At issue is Gillis racist attacks used in a former podcast he hosted called “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast,” with co-host Matt McCusker, The NY Daily News reports.
In a series of videos from 2018 posted on Twitter by Seth Simons, Gillis appears on camera saying “Let the f*cking ch*nks live there,” when referencing New York’s Chinatown.
In another video posted by Vulture Gillis mocked comedians who have a “confessional style” of comedy calling them “white f*ggot comics” and “f*cking gayer than ISIS.”
today SNL announced the hiring of its first cast member of East Asian descent, and also this guy pic.twitter.com/0FAGJZJUkK
— Seth Simons (@sasimons) September 12, 2019
He also goes on a tirade ranking comedians by race, gender, and sexual orientation.
“White chicks are literally the bottom,” Gillis says. “Ali Wong is making it so Asian chicks are funnier than white chicks.”
this, again, is from September 2018 pic.twitter.com/inYFT22zjl
— Seth Simons (@sasimons) September 12, 2019
That brand of comedy even got him fired from performing at Good Good Comedy Theatre in Philadelphia.
“Good Good Comedy Theatre stopped working with him within the past few years because of racist, homophobic, and sexist things he’s said on and offstage,” Kate Banford, co-owner of the theater, told Vulture.
—Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Sues CBS for Defamation—
On Thursday, once the videos hit the internet, Gillis offered a lame and half-hearted apology for his offensive material.
“I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said,” he wrote. “My intention is never to hurt anyone but I’m trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.”
Earlier in the day, SNL made an announcement that they hired the first Asian-American regular cast member Bowen Yang.
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