Posted in: NBC, Opinion, Peacock, streaming, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: 21 Savage, nbc, opinion, saturday night live, Shane Gillis, snl

SNL: Shane Gillis Talks Controversy, Seems Rattled in Messy Monologue

Saturday Night Live host Shane Gillis seemed rattled during his monologue, where he addressed the controversy that led to his SNL firing.

NBC's Saturday Night Live returned this after a three-week break – a break that came at what was already proving to be an "interesting" 2024 only weeks into the new year. In a surprise move, stand-up comedian Shane Gillis (joined by musical guest 21 Savage) was welcomed back to Studio 8H with open arms as this weekend's host. That's a huge departure from SNL's thoughts on Gillis from September 2019, when the long-running sketch comedy/music series parted ways with the then newly-announced cast member –  only days after recordings of racist, sexist, and homophobic comments surfaced, part of a YouTube channel called Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast.

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL. 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," shared a spokesperson for SNL creator Lorne Michaels regarding the decision at the time. "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."

Recently, Gillis' career has been on an upswing, with a successful comedy act, a recurring role on Pete Davidson's Peacock series Bupkis, a Netflix comedy special, and a deal to be a spokesperson for Bud Light. And that helped bring him back to Studio 8H, where he addressed the controversy during his opening monologue. "I'm here," Gillis shared. "Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was actually – I was fired from this show a while ago. But, you know, don't look that up, please. If you don't know who I am, please don't Google that. It's fine. Don't even worry about it." The host added, "I probably shouldn't be up here, honestly. I should be home; I should be a high school football coach."

But from there, Gillis seemed off his game. For a comedian returning with the SNL track record that he had, the comedian had an interesting selection of topics that didn't quite go over with the audience – from why he's no longer "gay for my mom" and calling out that his father volunteers to coach women's volleyball because he thought it was funny to family members of his with Down Syndrome. But Gillis felt the need to keep reminding that "I don't have any material that can be on TV," even calling out the lighting in the studio. "This place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it. This is the most nervous I've ever been."

In one of the segments from a more extensive September 2018 YouTube post (which was removed), Gillis says to co-host & comedian Matt McCusker, "Chinatown's f***ing nuts. Let the f***ing ch**ks live there." Later in that same video post, Gillis has this to say about his experiences at Chinese restaurants: "The translation between you and the waiter is such a f—ing hassle, I'm pointing at it." Gillis then appears to attempt to differentiate their discussion by calling it "nice racism, good racism." Gillis would respond to the controversy by offering to apologize to anyone "who's actually offended by anything" and stating that to be "the best comedian" he can be, he must be someone who "pushes boundaries" and "takes risks."

And don't forget that on March 2nd, we have Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You) hosting, with musical guest Kacey Musgraves. Following that, on March 9th, we have Josh Brolin (Dune 2) hosting, with musical guest Ariana Grande.

NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 49 company includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Chloe Troast, Devon Walker, and Bowen Yang. SNL is executive-produced by Lorne Michaels, with Liz Patrick directing and SNL alum Darrell Hammond announcing. Broadcasting from Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series is produced by SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video.

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