Everyone has weighed in on the Shane Gillis monologue controversy, except ‘SNL’
By Zoe Sottile, CNN
(CNN) — As anger builds online against comedian Shane Gillis’ description of women as “whores” during his “Saturday Night Live” monologue, one party is staying noticeably absent from the conversation: “SNL” itself.
The show and its network NBC haven’t commented publicly on the backlash, nor have they responded to requests for comment. It’s a familiar playbook for “SNL,” which has often chosen to stay mum and ride out the waves of controversy that have punctured its decades-long run.
The backlash over Gillis’ monologue was, perhaps, predictable. The Philadelphia-born comic was previously fired from his role as a cast member, just a few days after his hiring was announced, after clips emerged of him using an ethnic slur against Chinese people and a mock Asian accent on his podcast, as well as gay slurs. By way of explanation, he offered that he was a “comedian who pushes boundaries.”
Gillis’ return to the series as a guest host last weekend saw him in classic form, styling himself as a beer-swilling bro, an everyman who shirks political correctness. He hasn’t been to the gym in a while, he said during his “SNL” monologue, so he should be forgiven for being surprised by how women dress to work out now: “Like whores.”
“Look, I’m sorry. There’s no other way to describe it,” he said. They wear tight shorts, he said, with the color of “artificial bait.”
“SNL” and its longtime boss Lorne Michaels – have often stayed quiet after hosts or their comments attracted backlash, never commenting, for example, on the controversy over Dave Chappelle, who has hosted the show twice since being criticized for transphobic comments he made in 2021.
While “SNL” is staying quiet, others are speaking out — both in and outside 30 Rock.
For Jessie Leo, a graphic designer who works on the long-running sketch comedy show, Gillis’ comment wasn’t just offensive. It was also indicative of an unsafe workplace. “How am I ever supposed to feel comfortable going to NBC HR after knowing the company and people I work for gave the thumbs up for Shane’s whore joke during his monologue,” she wrote on Instagram late Tuesday. “In general, but especially at a time like this with rape culture and victim-blaming assailing women from all angles right now.”
Cecily Strong, who was the longest-tenured female cast member in “SNL” history, excoriated Gillis’ cruel characterization of women on her own Instagram story. “On my way to Pilates in my new slutty ass orange shoes and rainbow socks,” she wrote above a picture of her legs in workout gear. “Might sell sex on the way not sure.”
Former “SNL” cast member Ego Nwodim cast her own shade at Gillis, writing “whore reporting for duty” on a picture of herself dressed for the gym earlier this week. On TikTok, too, dozens of women have posted images of their gym outfits with references to Gillis’ comment.
Outside of “SNL”-world, “Schitt’s Creek” star Dan Levy made a minute-and-a-half video about the monologue, saying, “Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists.”
He called out other men, too. “More men need to be standing up in opposition to it because it’s complacency that has created the environment in which women are sexually assaulted and it’s a ‘conversation’ as opposed to a ‘crime,’” he said.
Like many of Gillis’ critics, Strong highlighted the timing of Gillis’ monologue. As Gillis was joking about women dressed like “whores” and working out at his friend Joe Rogan’s private gym, less than 200 miles north an investigation was unfolding into the alleged gang rape of a former undergraduate at Cornell University. The investigation into the 2024 incident, triggered after the former undergraduate filed a lawsuit, unleashed outrage and a flood of women to share similar stories of sexual violence and abuse.
The-CNN-Wire
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