Comedian Shane Gillis responds to backlash over ‘Saturday Night Live’ monologue
Shane Gillis drew ire for comments he made during his Oct. 10 monologue. He says the backlash "had a lot to do with the climate."
Comedian Shane Gillis told Saturday Night Live there would be “no controversy” with his opening monologue — a performance that was ultimately slammed by viewers who called his jokes misogynistic.
During his third time hosting the sketch-comedy show on Oct. 10, Gillis said in his seven-minute monologue that women dress like “whores” when they go to the gym.
“Look, I’m sorry there’s no other way to describe it,” the Mechanicsburg, Pa. native said.
Many took to social media to denounce Gillis’ language as tone deaf amid a national reckoning with sexual violence in the wake of the Cornell 7 case. Feminist author Jessica Valenti said on Instagram, “when you demean and denigrate and dehumanize women … What do you think rape culture is?”; actor and former SNL host Dan Levy said in a reel, “I’m speechless that something like that can exist on live national television.”
» READ MORE: Critics slam Shane Gillis for misogyny on ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance
On an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast released Friday, Gillis said the online backlash “had a lot to do with the climate.”
The Tires star also said SNL didn’t provide feedback or approval on his monologue beforehand.
“They were like, ‘What’s going on with the monologue?’ And I was like, ‘It’s not great, but I don’t say anything bad,’” Gillis said on the podcast. “The whole time, I was like, ‘Fellas, I’m giving you a solid C minus of a monologue, but I promise there’s no controversy.”
Critics also admonished Gillis for a bad-word blunder: During a Dr. Seuss-themed skit, he dropped an f-bomb. The flub wasn’t censored on the live broadcast, and the comedian apologized.
Gillis, who graduated from West Chester University and cut his teeth in Philadelphia’s comedy scene, was announced as an SNL cast member in 2019 then fired before the season premiere for having made homophobic and racist jokes on his podcast. He has maintained that the remarks were taken out of context and said he would apologize to anyone who was offended.
In the years since, Gillis’ brash style and edgy jokes have launched him into stardom. In July, his one-night-only comedy special at Lincoln Financial Field broke Guinness World Records for attendance and tickets sold.
Staff writer Emily Bloch contributed to this report.
