Molly Voit
September 12th, 2019, marked the day Saturday Night Live, the popular comedic television show, made history; Bowen Yang was hired, making him the first full-time Chinese-American cast member in the 44 years the show has run. Despite the significance of Yang’s hire, SNL’s other new hire, Shane Gillis, diminished the positive responses towards SNL.
Gillis is a white comedian and podcaster. Shortly after being hired alongside Yang, his controversial past was revealed by comedy writer Seth Simons after posting a clip from Gillis, and his co-host Matt McCuster’s, podcast; the clip from an 2018 episode includes conversations describing an unspecified Chinatown as built from “one f*cked up building,” where the food “sucks” and is “dishonest.” The two men claim that “[the Chinese] invented a f*cking chemical to put in their food to make it dericious…to f*ck your body up,” referring to MSG and purposely misprouncing “delicious” in an offensive manner. Additionally, Gillis recounts a time when he ate in a Chinatown restaurant and says, “Baby girl was like ‘I’m so excited for noodres’ … translation between the waiters is just such a f*cking hassle.” The video continues to reveal Gillis and McCuster making similar comments about Chinatown, Chinese food, and other minority groups. Gillis also has a history of making homophobic, sexist, and xenophobic comments on air.
Hours after his controversial statements resurfaced, Gillis tweeted a statement addressing what was revealed; he writes, “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss … I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said … My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.” His statement was met with a generally negative response. Some pointed out the irony in describing his jokes as pushing boundaries when the racist tropes he utilizes are not, in fact, original. Others pushed back on his lack of apology, and deemed his trying to justify offensive comments and lack of regret problematic; by saying, “I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended,” he is blaming those listening to his comedy acts for taking offense instead of realizing the issues within himself.
However, some comedians defended Gillis claiming that people were being too sensitive and were restricting comedians from creating freely. In response to the negativity towards Gillis, former SNL cast member Rob Shneider tweeted addressing Gillis, “I am sorry that you had the misfortune of being a cast member during this era of cultural unforgiveness where comedic misfires are subject to the intolerable inquisition of those who never risked bombing on stage themselves.” There is a clear divide forming within the comedy community, a rift described by the Hollywood Reporter as an “escalating civil war over what’s acceptable humor and what’s unfunny hate speech.”
Saturday Night Live itself also received backlash following this incident; many fans were surprised that the show hired Gillis in the first place and were left questioning the show’s hiring process. According to CNBC, “A NBC spokesperson said in a statement on behalf of ‘SNL’ executive producer Lorne Michaels that they had not been aware of Gillis’ comments prior to hiring him … social media makes the vetting process much tougher.” CNBC reveals the complexities of technology’s role in background checks; Josh Magnum, senior director of corporate strategy at Search Solution Group, explains that “the average person has five days worth of video uploaded online and that entertainers tend to have exponentially more.” Regarding the videos of Gillis, Magnum says, “It’s not something that comes up in a background check. You may have to comb through 10 hours worth of content or more.” Alternatively, Dennis Theodorou, managing director at JMJ Phillip, shares that there are many resources available to institutions to help vet future employees; “They can hire an outside firm whose sole job is to vet new talent or even institute policies like a uniform interview process or personality tests.” Theodorou, as an employee of one of these recruiting and executive search firms, explains that “We don’t want to send someone to them that we’ve head hunted for them and have [the client] find something on the net [about a future employee] before we do.” SNL did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment and has not shared what their hiring process is.
Four days after the news of Gillis being hired sparked controversy, SNL fired him and released a statement on behalf of Lorne Michaels; “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining ‘SNL’ … We hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for ‘SNL.’ 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.”
This action, too, received a heated response. Those who supported SNL’s decision to fire Gillis praised the show for publicly denouncing the offensive and problematic language that Gillis uses. Sandra Oh, one of these supporters, tweeted, “Glad 2 see @nbcsnl decision NOT legitimize/give platform 2 purveyors of racist homophobic content.” From a more neutral stance, Sasheer Zamata, a former cast member, said about Gillis, “Say whatever you want, but you also have to know that the audience is going to feel how they feel, and they also have a right to say what they want to say.”
The backlash against SNL’s decision was passionate as well; on Lights Out with David Spade, Jim Jefferies attributed Gillis’ firing to “cancel culture,” and Bill Burr agreed stating, “You could honestly do that to anybody. I don’t get it. Millennials, you’re a bunch of rats. None of them care; all they want to do is get people in trouble.” Gillis himself issued a statement on being fired in which he says, “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.”
However, at his first stand-up performance after being fired, Gillis tells the audience, “You try to stay off [Twitter] when the whole f*cking country hates you. That’s not a fun feeling as a human. Especially when you never get to say your side at all.” He was also reported to have said during this routine, “I’m fine with the consequences … I do want everyone to know that I’ve been reading every one of my death threats in an Asian accent.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/21/how-nbcs-snl-firing-could-have-been-avoided-and-why-it-couldnt.html
https://slate.com/culture/2019/09/shane-gillis-snl-racism-performances-canceled.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/entertainment/shane-gillis-reaction/index.html
‘This means WAR’: Comedians criticize SNL for firing Shane Gillis over racist language
Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ firing for racist remarks splits the comedy community