Hours after SNL announced stand-up Shane Gillis was one of the three new cast members hired for the upcoming 45th season, a video surfaced on social media that showed Gillis using racist and homophobic language on his podcast as recently as September 2018. Upon further investigation, Vulture discovered Gillis has a long history of using such language in his podcast and stand-up routines, and Gillis proceeded to offer an apology “to anyone actually offended by anything I’ve said.†Now, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang — whom Gillis referred to as a racial slur on his podcast earlier this year — is personally reaching out to Gillis in the hopes of discussing his comedic material.
“Shane, I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesn’t take cheap shots. But I’m happy to sit down and talk with you if you’d like,†Yang wrote. “For the record, I do not think he should lose his job. We would benefit from being more forgiving rather than punitive. We are all human.â€
In the same statement that addressed his racial and homophobic remarks, Gillis insisted he wasn’t trying to insult anyone with his material. “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,†he wrote. “My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.†SNL has yet to comment on whether Gillis’s past remarks will affect his employment.