Comedian Shane Gillis has publicly addressed the uproar over his October 10 “Saturday Night Live” monologue for the first time, revealing he told NBC producers ahead of the show that there would be “no controversy” despite privately rating his own material a “solid C minus.”
Gillis, 38, made the admission during Friday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. He said “SNL” staff do not approve monologue content in advance, though they retain the power to pull material.
“Not to defend SNL, they don’t approve it. I mean, they could shut it down,” Gillis said.
He recalled the pitch he gave producers before taking the stage: “I’m giving you a solid C minus of a monologue, but I promise there’s no controversy.”
The joke that triggered the backlash came when Gillis told the audience, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?” On the podcast, he clarified he has no actual objection to women’s gym attire and suggested the fierce reaction “obviously had a lot to do with the climate” at the time.
Celebrity reaction split
The line drew swift condemnation from some corners of the entertainment world. “Schitt’s Creek” star Dan Levy posted an Instagram video pushing back directly.
“Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores,” Levy said. “It makes the men calling them whores, misogynists.”
Former “SNL” cast member Ego Nwodim appeared to mock the joke with a gym selfie captioned “whore reporting for duty.” But “SNL” alum Dana Carvey defended Gillis, saying he took the line simply as a joke.
Gillis also described handling this controversy differently than his 2019 firing from “SNL,” which came just days after he was announced as a new cast member once old recordings surfaced of him using racist and homophobic slurs.
“The first time I got fired, I kept social media,” Gillis said. “This time, I just deleted everything immediately.”
Gillis eventually returned to host “SNL” in February 2024, and his October 10 appearance marked another hosting stint more than seven years after his original dismissal.
