Lorne Michaels Finally Speaks Out About Comedian Shane Gillis' Firing Saturday Night Livenow describes it as an “overreaction.”
Gillis was announced as a new featured cast member alongside Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman in 2019, but the long-running sketch comedy series changed course a few days later after a resurgence of podcast jokes deemed racist and homophobic. But like many comedians accused of pushing the envelope too far, the 36-year-old's career has continued to flourish, and he took to the Studio 8H stage for the first time earlier this year to host the show.
“When I brought Shane Gillis on board, we went through some tough times,” Michaels said. Hollywood Reporter “He got beat up for things he did years ago, and the overwhelming response to that was so astonishing — and the pace of it was that 200 Asian companies were going to boycott the show,” he said in a wide-ranging interview last week in response to a question about political correctness.
In an episode from 2018 Matt and Shane's Secret PodcastGillis had mocked East Asian accents and at one point used an ethnic slur for Chinese people, but later argued that while these remarks may have seemed genuinely upsetting when taken out of context, the intent had been misunderstood.
“It turned into a scandal and I said, 'No, no, she's just starting out and she's really funny and you don't know how to use her,'” Michaels continued. “And when she came back on the show last year [to host]We said, ‘Oh right, he’s really talented and he’d be really good for us.’ Now, his life was going great without her. SNL“But what I wanted to say was that everything had become so serious. It was like madness.”
“And the pace of the cancellation—and so many people deserved to be disliked—it’s not just been the Reign of Terror, but it’s like you’re judging everybody on every position they have on every issue, rather than asking, ‘Are they good at what they do?’” the 79-year-old added. “I think that era is coming to an end, and I believe that people who do terrible things will still be punished.”
Gillis responded to the initial backlash in a social media post that he later removed, describing himself as a “comedian who pushes the envelope.”
“If you look back over my 10-year career in comedy, most of it was bad, you'll find a lot of bad mistakes, I said at the time. “I'm happy to apologize to anyone who was genuinely offended by what I said. It was never my intention to hurt anyone, but I try to be the best comedian I can be, and sometimes that requires taking risks.”
Last year, Gillis released his first Netflix comedy special. Shane Gillis: Beautiful DogsScripted workplace comedy Tires It also began airing online in May and was quickly renewed for a second season.