Hannah Yasharoff | USA TODAY

USA TODAY

2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang says he's been in communication with Shane Gillis, the comedian fired from "Saturday Night Live" over racist comments four days after he was hired.

Yang faced backlash over the weekend after he called for others to forgive Gillis for a 2018 video clip from an episode of his "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast," in which the comedian used a racial slur and made derogatory remarks about Asians.

"For the record, I do not think he should lose his job," Yang wrote in a series of tweets Saturday, calling Gillis a "still-forming comedian from central Pennsylvania who made some terrible and insensitive jokes and comments." He called on others to be "more forgiving rather than punitive."

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images; Phil Provencio/NBC

He added to Gillis: "I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesn't take cheap shots. But I'm happy to sit down and talk with you if you'd like."

Now, it appears Gillis is taking Yang up on the offer.

"Shane Gillis reached out," he tweeted Monday. "Looks like we will be sitting down together soon."

Shane Gillis reached out. Looks like we will be sitting down together soon. — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) September 16, 2019

"SNL" announced Monday that Gillis would not be joining the show.

"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 comedian and his impressive audition for 'SNL,'" said a statement attributed to executive producer Lorne Michaels. "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.”

After Michaels issued his statement, Gillis boasted that he was "a comedian who was funny enough" to get the job in the first place.

"Of course I wanted to prove myself at SNL, but realize it would have been too much of a distraction," he wrote on Twitter. "I respect the decision they made. I'm honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway," he added, referring to Fox's onetime rival sketch-comedy series.

Rob Schneider, a comedian who wrote and performed on "SNL" in the late '90s and early 2000s, weighed in on the controversy. Schneider apologized to Gillis "as a former 'SNL' cast member," lamenting "the misfortune of being a cast member during this era of culture unforgiveness where comedic misfires are subject to the intolerable inquisition of those who never risked bombing on stage themselves."

A suspension "would be appropriate for someone... that says something terrible in a podcast from a year earlier," Schneider said. He added hours later that there is a "difference between exposing truths through Free Speech and just being ugly.

"It's not OK to say racist things under the guise of comedy," Schneider continued. "Just because you have a mic in your hand doesn't make the racist things you say any less racist."

Andrew Yang responds to backlash over forgiving new 'SNL' member Shane Gillis for racial slur

Actress Sandra Oh also responded to the news Monday, tweeting that she was "glad" the show decided not to "legitimize/give platform (to) purveyors or racist homophobic content," dubbing Gillis a "LAZY (expletive) UNORIGINAL."

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