Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ monologue slammed as sexist for comments about women
Comedian Shane Gillis drew controversy again for his “Saturday Night Live” monologue Saturday after commenting that he “didn’t know women just dress like whores now” at the gym.
Read more Another Hormuz? What to know about the Houthi threat to the Red Sea
Gillis appeared to draw few laughs from the studio audience after making the remark during the monologue, which marked his third time hosting the NBC sketch comedy show. (“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.)
After lamenting that he needs to lose weight, he went on to describe the “neon, artificial-vape colored” shorts that women are wearing to work out, and the fact that men are not allowed to look at women in those shorts.
The bit drew an outpouring of backlash toward Gillis online, with hundreds of people sharing their negative reactions on TikTok, Instagram, X and Threads.
Representatives for “SNL” and Gillis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gillis, who is known for his raunchy style of comedy, has a history of placing women — and other marginalized groups — at the butt of jokes. Many people called it tone deaf of Gillis to make such comments following the reports around a former Cornell University student who alleged she was gang-raped at an on-campus fraternity house in 2024.
Among the chorus of vocal critics was actor Dan Levy, who on Sunday posted an Instagram video in which he said, “Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there.”
Levy, who created and starred in “Schitt’s Creek,” said he is “speechless that something like that can exist on live national television.”
“And to be perfectly honest,” Levy continued, “more men need to be standing up in opposition to it because it’s complacency that has created the environment with which women are sexually assaulted, and it’s a ‘conversation’ as opposed to a crime.”
Levy called on men to defend women more often, and noted that this is not a women’s issue — “this is an everybody issue,” he added.
“The more that men objectify women in the media, the more that other men see them as objects and treat them as objects,” he said. “They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men.”
Some used Gillis’ monologue to show solidarity for Cornell’s Jane Doe, who accused seven Chi Phi fraternity members of plying her with drugs before sexually assaulting her overnight following a fraternity party.
As the investigation made headlines, women began sharing their own experiences with sexual assault on campus and what they say were inadequate responses from their universities and their police departments, with some coalescing around the hashtag #iamjanedoe.
Read more Victims of Pennsylvania mass shooting included pregnant daughter of gunman
Writer Jessica Valenti said that she thinks Gillis was probably aware about the “major national conversation happening right now about sexual assault” in relation to the Cornell case.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAnother Hormuz? What to know about the Houthi threat to the Red Sea
FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP ad buyer mixes up Portlands, spends money meant to help Maine Sen. Susan Collins in Oregon
FOR SUBSCRIBERSJane Doe’s night started with catching up. It ended with a frat party that changed everything.
FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Trump never cared about us’: Ukraine smarts at U.S. pressure and deal with Putin
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFacing smaller crowds and low approval ratings, Trump tries to rally the base
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAcross both parties, Black candidates look to make history in governor’s races
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbortion isn’t top of mind for voters, but Democrats are betting it could motivate their base
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFlock ‘false flags’ lead to frightening motorist encounters with police
FOR SUBSCRIBERSInside one country’s ambitious campaign to plant 50 billion trees
FOR SUBSCRIBERSOne year on, Gaza ceasefire exists ‘in name only,’ aid groups say amid near-daily Israeli strikes
FOR SUBSCRIBERSBad blood spills over in the Texas Senate race — and it’s tearing Republicans apart
FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI said it solved hundreds of math problems. The results are dividing mathematicians.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSDaytime Russian strikes on Kyiv shatter residents’ illusion of safety
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom ‘Artificial’ to ‘Musk’: Hollywood puts tech giants under microscope
FOR SUBSCRIBERSRepublicans stay bullish on Texas governor’s race, but two key groups present challenges
“This is his contribution to that conversation,” she said. “This is him telling us what he thinks of the discourse on sexual assault. … That is rape culture.”
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAnother Hormuz? What to know about the Houthi threat to the Red Sea
FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP ad buyer mixes up Portlands, spends money meant to help Maine Sen. Susan Collins in Oregon
FOR SUBSCRIBERSJane Doe’s night started with catching up. It ended with a frat party that changed everything.
FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Trump never cared about us’: Ukraine smarts at U.S. pressure and deal with Putin
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFacing smaller crowds and low approval ratings, Trump tries to rally the base
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAcross both parties, Black candidates look to make history in governor’s races
FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbortion isn’t top of mind for voters, but Democrats are betting it could motivate their base
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFlock ‘false flags’ lead to frightening motorist encounters with police
FOR SUBSCRIBERSInside one country’s ambitious campaign to plant 50 billion trees
FOR SUBSCRIBERSOne year on, Gaza ceasefire exists ‘in name only,’ aid groups say amid near-daily Israeli strikes
FOR SUBSCRIBERSBad blood spills over in the Texas Senate race — and it’s tearing Republicans apart
FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI said it solved hundreds of math problems. The results are dividing mathematicians.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSDaytime Russian strikes on Kyiv shatter residents’ illusion of safety
FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom ‘Artificial’ to ‘Musk’: Hollywood puts tech giants under microscope
FOR SUBSCRIBERSRepublicans stay bullish on Texas governor’s race, but two key groups present challenges
Others, like writer and comedian Sophia Benoit, said Gillis’ joke about how women dress at the gym was not funny.
It “has been a very common joke for AT LEAST fifteen years, and it has never once that I can recall been performed with a punchline,” she wrote on X.
Gillis’ career has been fraught with controversy, mainly, his time with “SNL.” He was hired as a cast member in 2019, before he was quickly canned for previously making racist jokes on his podcast. The criticisms of Gillis piled on when other clips of him using offensive language went viral at the time.
At the time, he apologized, but said he would continue to make shocking and taboo jokes.
“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,” a spokesperson for “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels told NBC News in 2019. “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.”
The show, which was home to Bowen Yang (the show’s first Asian American cast member) at the time, chose to fire Gillis, but invited him back to host in 2024 and 2025 before Saturday’s appearance.
Later during Saturday’s episode, Gillis accidentally slipped an f-bomb during a sketch, and later apologized. The Federal Communications Commission “prohibits obscene, indecent and profane content from being broadcast on the radio or TV.” The agency defines “profane content” as “grossly offensive” language that is considered a public nuisance,” according to its website.
Some online pointed out that Gillis apologized for cursing during a sketch, but not for offending people during his monologue.
“That’s a pretty ridiculous contrast,” one social media user wrote. “An accidental swear gets an apology, while insulting women is supposed to pass as edgy comedy.”
Read more A wealth boom and a price shock are colliding ahead of the midterm elections
