New "SNL" cast member Shane Gillis exposed in videos using racist and homophobic slurs
By Sophie Lewis
/ CBS News
Shortly after comedian Shane Gillis was named one of the newest cast members of "Saturday Night Live," videos showing him making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks immediately went viral. Now, Gillis is attempting to apologize for the comments as fans call for him to be fired.
NBC announced Gillis, Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang as the newest SNL cast members Thursday. Just hours later, a video went viral on Twitter in which Gillis mocks Chinese people, using several racial slurs during an episode of his podcast last year.
In a now-deleted YouTube video, Gillis and his co-host, Matt McCusker, shared a slew of racist "jokes" against Chinese-Americans, mocking their accents and culture. The page for "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast" is now completely devoid of content.
today SNL announced the hiring of its first cast member of East Asian descent, and also this guy pic.twitter.com/0FAGJZJUkK
— Seth Simons (@sasimons) September 12, 2019
this, again, is from September 2018 pic.twitter.com/inYFT22zjl
— Seth Simons (@sasimons) September 12, 2019
"Let the f—ing ch—- live there," Gillis said, referring to New York City's Chinatown neighborhood. The two go on to mock Chinatown's architecture and food, complaining extensively about MSG and calling noodles, "nooders."
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In the same video, Gillis and McCusker joke about going to Thailand to "party with ladyboys" and complain about other ethnicities being racist against white people.
In another podcast episode, the duo rank comedians by race, gender and sexuality. They repeatedly make sexist and racist remarks and use homophobic slurs throughout.
"White chicks are literally the bottom," Gillis said. "Ali Wong is making it so Asian chicks are funnier than white chicks."
They also refer to Judd Apatow and Chris Gethard as "white fa—- comics" and "f—ing gayer than ISIS."
Gillis shared a statement on the videos late Thursday night, calling himself a "comedian who pushes boundaries." While he didn't apologize in the statement, he said he would be "happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended" by what he's said. He called the racist comments "risks" that missed the mark.
Gillis, Fineman and Yang were named to SNL for the show's 45th season, which begins at the end of the month. Yang, who started writing for the show last year, is openly gay and the show's first Chinese-American cast member.
Gillis is facing massive backlash on Twitter, and people are calling on NBC to replace him.
If you’re a comic & you think calling Chinese ppl chinks is funny, you’re a hack AND a racist. Oh, & you’re going to make fun of Chinese accents by replacing Ls w/ Rs? For every untalented Shane Gillis there are hundreds of talented Bowen Yangs who have had to fight tooth & nail https://t.co/ptiqm9eboG
— Cindy Pika Chu (@iamcindychu) September 13, 2019
It took 45 years for @SNL to get an East Asian cast member and in that same year he’ll be joined by someone who would have no problem calling him a “fuckin’ chink.”
Gotta be a joke in there somewhere. https://t.co/BB8C4lQU4X— Daniel Dae Kim (@danieldaekim) September 13, 2019
We, like many, were very quickly disgusted by Shane Gillis' overt racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia – expressed both on and off stage – upon working with him years ago. We've deliberately chosen not to work with him in the years since.
— Good Good Comedy Theatre (@goodgoodcomedy) September 13, 2019
Yeah if you want to know what being a person of color is like, it’s literally that for every Bowen Yang-shaped step you take forward, you also take one racist-ass Shane Gillis-shaped step back https://t.co/mTkG1rBzf6
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) September 12, 2019
First published on September 13, 2019 / 2:13 PM
© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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