Comedian Shane Gillis has been removed from the “Saturday Night Live” lineup less than a week after NBC announced its new hires for season 45.
The announcement comes amid mounting criticism over a widely-circulated video of Gillis speaking on a podcast in 2018. The clip shows him repeatedly using Asian slurs and crudely mocking Chinese people. He reportedly had attempted to delete the video and others.
“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided hat he will not be joining ‘SNL,'” the statement reads. “We want ‘SNL’ to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL.”
It continues, “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. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”
Gillis also issued a response to the news, writing on Twitter, “It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are. I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get on ‘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.”
Adding that he “respect[s] the decision they made,” and is “honestly grateful for the opportunity,” he then cracekd, “I was always a MAD TV guy anyway.”
Gillis, a Pennsylvania native, has performed in major clubs across the country. Two clubs in Philadelphia confirmed in recent days that they refused to continue booking him because he frequently relied on jokes that are “racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic.”
The comic was hired alongside two other “SNL” newcomers, Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang. Yang will be the show’s first Asian cast member.
It’s unclear whether “SNL” will hire an additional person to round out the cast without Gillis.
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