New 'SNL' cast member Shane Gillis under fire for racist remarks: 'This makes me feel nauseous'
Hours after Saturday Night Live announced three new cast members Thursday, people were calling for one of them, Shane Gillis, to be fired.
Freelance writer and editor Seth Simons recirculated YouTube video of Gillis using racist terms about Asians on a channel called “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast.”
“Chinatown’s f***ing nuts. Let the f***ing c****s live there,” Gillis said.
He and his co-host, comedian Matt McCusker, went on to talk about what they dislike about Chinatown, sometimes using racist pronunciations. While all the video from the show channel has since been deleted, Simons shared a clip.
this, again, is from September 2018 pic.twitter.com/inYFT22zjl
— Seth Simons (@sasimons) September 12, 2019
Twitter users were outraged.
“I’m trying to find a way to express how disgusting this is but I am failing miserably,” one said.
Someone else said the language made them feel “nauseous.”
I’m trying to find a way to express how disgusting this is but I am failing miserably
— Shenanigans (@Shenanigans_luv) September 12, 2019
This makes me feel nauseous. Wtf.
— biddy kitty (@melacalderone) September 12, 2019
And that should end his SNL stint
— Wake Up! It's 1984. (@AOTPRadio) September 12, 2019
— NotRichardMaddensWhiteStripe (@MsRedness27) September 12, 2019
This Twitter thread should be using his name, using the word "racist," and calling for him to be fired.
— Robbie X Pierce (@Robbiepierce) September 12, 2019
Meanwhile, New York Magazine reported that Gillis has a history of racist and homophobic remarks. Kate Banford, co-owner of Good Good Comedy Theatre in Philadelphia, told the magazine she stopped working with him “within the past few years because of racist, homophobic and sexist things he’s said on and offstage.”
As the old clip resurfaced, Gillis took to Twitter late Thursday with an apology “to anyone who’s actually offended”:
— Shane Gillis (@Shanemgillis) September 13, 2019
In addition to Gillis, the Lorne Michaels-produced show named Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, an SNL writer, would join the cast. Yang is the show’s first full-time, Asian American cast member.
The new season of Saturday Night Live premieres Sept. 28, with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish.
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