Key Takeaways
- Shane Gillis used his third SNL hosting monologue to joke that women at the gym dress “like whores,” sparking criticism from Dan Levy, Martha Plimpton, Kathy Griffin, Ego Nwodim, and Cecily Strong.
- SNL fired Gillis in 2019 after clips surfaced of him using anti-Asian slurs, but he rebuilt his career through stand-up, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, Gilly & Keeves, and Netflix’s Tires.
- His comeback has included multiple SNL hosting gigs, a Netflix Top 10 special, and a Guinness record after selling 76,212 tickets for a solo comedy show in Philadelphia.
By now you’ve probably seen Shane Gillis’ all over the headlines and social media after his latest Saturday Night Live hosting stint.
The 38-year-old Pennsylvania-native is no stranger to controversy, and his monologue on the Oct. 10 episode of SNL opened up yet another can of worms.
Why are people calling out Shane Gillis for his October 2026 SNL monologue?
Gillis’ opening monologue on the Oct. 10 episode of Saturday Night Live saw the comedian build his monologue around a bit about going back to the gym to lose weight.
He joked that he had been away so long he hadn't realized women now dress "like whores." The comedian went on to describe their shorts as having "artificial bait" neon colors, with wrinkles that wrap the cheeks and meet at the buttocks.
“Don't look. You're not allowed to look,” he said. “For real, don't look because they are filming. I'm in the background of like 10 TikToks right now.”
Later in the night he dropped an uncensored F-bomb during a Dr. Seuss sketch and offered a brief apology during the show’s ending credits.
Which celebrities reacted to Shane Gillis’ SNL monologue?
Dan Levy posted an Instagram Reel calling out the monologue over its objectification of women.
Martha Plimpton and Kathy Griffin added their own criticism, as did SNL alums Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong, who mocked the gym bit on their respective Instagram accounts.
The reactions landed harder against the backdrop of the ongoing Cornell sexual-assault case.
So, why are some people always angry at Shane Gillis?
After his firing from Saturday Night Live in 2019, Gillis’ reputation for unfiltered comedy became an established part of his public image.
His return as an SNL host in 2024 and 2025 prompted criticism from people who questioned the show's decision to welcome him back after his earlier firing over racist slurs.
In May, Gillis made headlines for his appearance on the Netflix special, The Roast of Kevin Hart, for joking that Hart is “so short, they’re gonna have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.” Gillis later admitted during his podcast that he “could have done without” the joke.
Some of Gillis’ critics are also vocal about the "MAGA-friendly" label that trails him. Gillis was also one of several high-profile guests who attended UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June.
During an August 2026 appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Gillis claimed he did not vote for Donald Trump despite his promises of “no new wars” and to release the Epstein files.
Was Shane Gillis fired from Saturday Night Live?
In September 2019, shortly after Gillis was announced as a a new cast member for the show’s 45th season, clips of the comedian using anti-Asian slurs were shared online by entertainment reporter Seth Simons, who at the time said they were sourced from a 2018 episode of the Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast.
At the time, SNL had also announced that Bowen Yang would be joining the cast as its first Chinese-American player.
"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," Gillis wrote in a statement shared to X (then Twitter).
Days later, a spokesperson for Saturday Night Live confirmed Gillis would no longer be joining the show.
“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,” said a spokesperson for Lorne Michaels in a statement shared with Deadline.
Sources told Variety that Michaels and the SNL team had allegedly cast Gillis in an effort to “appeal to more conservative viewers."
How did Shane Gillis make a comeback from his SNL firing?
Gillis turned the publicity surrounding his departure from Saturday Night Live into an opportunity to build a successful independent comedy career. In addition to Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast, Gillis worked on the online sketch series Gilly & Keeves in 2020 and a self-funded Netflix series Tires. His stand-up special, Netflix's Beautiful Dogs in 2023, reached the platform's Global Top 10, according to The New York Times.
He also turned up in Drake's Iceman livestream, appeared in Eminem's "Houdini" music video, and took a role in the upcoming Madden movie.
In July, Gillis broke a Guinness world record for most tickets sold for a solo comedy show after selling 76,212 tickets for his show at the Lincoln Financial Field, per Variety.
