SNL has also just hired its first Asian cast member, who is also gay.

New “SNL” Hire Shane Gillis Sort of Apologizes for His Racism, Homophobia, and Sexism

New Saturday Night Live hire Shane Gillis appears to have known his racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks were going to be a problem for him. The comic attempted to scrub his podcast from the internet, but those attempts were futile, leading to a backlash against both Gillis and the show.

Gillis is one of three new hires, alongside Bowen Yang, who is gay and is the show’s first Asian cast member. Chloe Fineman is the third new hire.

Clips of Gillis’ show, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, resurfaced online despite his attempts to bury it, showing the comedian making derogatory remarks about nearly every group of people who aren’t fellow straight, cis, white male comedians.

In one, he and co-host Matt McCusker complain about Chinatown, speak with Chinese accents, and discussing whether or not they find transgender women sexually appealing. At one point, Gillis uses an anti-Chinese slur, saying planners decided to “let the chinks live there.”



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

In another episode, the pair complain about a list of up-and-coming comedians from Rolling Stone that focused on women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community, because they feel women are the least funny group, followed by gay men.

Gillis said it would be like him making a list of NBA prospects and picking “eight white guys,” claiming it is tantamount to “ignoring who is actually good at this,” before McCusker responds that it would be more like picking “eight gay white guys.”

The two then complain about comedians who talk about mental health issues in their acts, with Gillis calling them “fucking gayer than Isis,” and both suggesting the solution to depression is to bury it and not tell anyone.

“These white faggot comics, they’re like, ’I’m just sad life is hard, and I’m gay,'” Gillis added.

He also speculated, without evidence, that comedian Chris Gethard suffered depression because he thought he was gay and found out he wasn’t, saying he had probably “fucked a guy” at some point.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKsjL4pjKI

Gillis took to Twitter to post an apology of sorts, that seemed more defensive that regretful, saying he was pushing “boundaries” and that he would “apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.”

Sources in Philadelphia, where Gillis lived and worked from 2014 through last year, told Vulture they were surprised to see he was hired by SNL considering his material.

“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,” said Kate Banford, co-owner of the club.

NBC has not responded to requests for comment.