February 05, 2024
Efren Landaos/Sipa USA
Shane Gillis was fired from 'Saturday Night Live' in 2019 after video clips surfaced of him making racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and sexist comments in his standup sets. Gillis, above, is slated to host 'SNL' on Feb. 24.
Mechanicsburg native Shane Gillis will host "Saturday Night Live" on Feb. 24, five years after he was hired and then abruptly fired for having made racist jokes in his stand-up acts.
The late-night show announced Sunday that Gillis will host the episode, which will feature musical guest 21 Savage, but did not make any further comment. Gillis reposted the show's announcement on Instagram, but did not add any remarks.
Gillis was hired as a full-time cast member in 2019, but was fired within days after clips surfaced of him using a slur referring to Chinese people, mimicking Chinese accents and making other offensive comments.
The video went viral at the time, even prompting a response from then-presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Notably, the show had just added its first Chinese-American cast member, Bowen Yang, that season. Additional clips also showed Gillis making homophobic, Islamophobic and sexist remarks.
In 2019, a spokesperson for creator and producer Lorne Michaels made a statement apologizing for the lapse in the show's vetting process and said that creators hadn't seen the clips earlier. Gillis, meanwhile, made an initial tweet saying he was a comedian that "pushed boundaries" and that he was "happy to apologize to anyone who's actually been offended by anything I've said," the Washington Post reported.
"It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are," he told Variety at the time. "I'm a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can't be taken away. Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I'm honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a 'Mad TV' guy anyway."
SNL also received some backlash for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's appearance last weekend. Liberal news outlet Mother Jones criticized the sketch show for giving her "a bizarre helping hand" in her primary race against Donald Trump. Others accused SNL of giving her screen time that other candidates have not received and of "comedy-washing hateful conservatives."
