Lorne Michaels Was Stunned Shane Gillis'Saturday Night LiveHiring Sparked 'Overreaction' as Controversial Remarks Resurfaced

Mar. 15, 2025

(L-R) Lorne Michaels attends The Prelude To The Olympics on July 25, 2024; Shane Gillis attends the 17th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Benefit.Photo:Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Lorne Michaelshas an interesting perspective when he looks back at the backlash toSaturday Night LivecastingShane Gillisbefore firing him days later.TheSNLcreator, 79, described the period between Gillis being cast in 2019 andhis firing after videos surfaced of him making racial slursas a “bad time” in a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter.“He got beat up for things that he’d done years earlier and the overreaction to it was so stunning — and the velocity of it was 200 Asian companies were going to boycott the show,” Michaels, 79, said. “It became a scandal and I go, ‘No, no, he’s just starting and he’s really funny and you don’t know how we’re going to use him.'“Michaels said that Gillis, 36, “turned out well withoutSNL,” but he still thinks that “everything became way too serious” amidst his resurfaced videos.“It was like a mania. And the velocity of cancellation — and lots of people deserved to not be liked — it just became not quite the Reign of Terror, but it was like you’re judging everybody on every position they have on every issue as opposed to, ‘Are they any good at the thing they do?'“Lorne Michaels attends the “Mean Girls: The Musical” Opening Night at The Savoy Theatre on June 26, 2024 in London, England.Karwai Tang/WireImageMichaels also reflected on the controversial decision tohave Gillis return to Studio 8H to host the showin February. “When he came back to the show last year, we saw, ‘Oh right, he’s really talented, and he would’ve been really good for us,'” he said.Gillis hosted the Feb. 24 show and addressed the firing directly as he said during his monologue, “I was actually, I was fired from this show a while ago. But… don’t look that up, please. If you don’t know who I am, please, don’t Google that. It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.““I don’t know, I probably shouldn’t be up here, honestly,” Gillis continued, before joking that he should instead be “home” or “a high school football coach.“Gillis was originally introduced to theSNLcast as a featured player in 2019 alongsideBowen YangandChloe Finemanahead of season 45, but footage from a podcast episode from the year before that saw him use a racial slur led the late-night sketch comedy show to let him go.“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joiningSNL,” anSNLspokesperson told PEOPLE at the time. “We wantSNLto have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition forSNL.“The statement said that the show was “not aware of his prior remarks” and called them “offensive, hurtful and unacceptable.“Shane Gillis during Promos in Studio 8H on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via GettyThe comedian said he “respected” the show’s decision in his own statement on X (formerly Twitter), as he wrote, “Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Saturday Night Liveseason 50 premieres Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

Lorne Michaelshas an interesting perspective when he looks back at the backlash toSaturday Night LivecastingShane Gillisbefore firing him days later.

TheSNLcreator, 79, described the period between Gillis being cast in 2019 andhis firing after videos surfaced of him making racial slursas a “bad time” in a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter.

“He got beat up for things that he’d done years earlier and the overreaction to it was so stunning — and the velocity of it was 200 Asian companies were going to boycott the show,” Michaels, 79, said. “It became a scandal and I go, ‘No, no, he’s just starting and he’s really funny and you don’t know how we’re going to use him.'”

Michaels said that Gillis, 36, “turned out well withoutSNL,” but he still thinks that “everything became way too serious” amidst his resurfaced videos.

“It was like a mania. And the velocity of cancellation — and lots of people deserved to not be liked — it just became not quite the Reign of Terror, but it was like you’re judging everybody on every position they have on every issue as opposed to, ‘Are they any good at the thing they do?'”

Lorne Michaels attends the “Mean Girls: The Musical” Opening Night at The Savoy Theatre on June 26, 2024 in London, England.Karwai Tang/WireImage

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Michaels also reflected on the controversial decision tohave Gillis return to Studio 8H to host the showin February. “When he came back to the show last year, we saw, ‘Oh right, he’s really talented, and he would’ve been really good for us,'” he said.

Gillis hosted the Feb. 24 show and addressed the firing directly as he said during his monologue, “I was actually, I was fired from this show a while ago. But… don’t look that up, please. If you don’t know who I am, please, don’t Google that. It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.”

“I don’t know, I probably shouldn’t be up here, honestly,” Gillis continued, before joking that he should instead be “home” or “a high school football coach.”

Gillis was originally introduced to theSNLcast as a featured player in 2019 alongsideBowen YangandChloe Finemanahead of season 45, but footage from a podcast episode from the year before that saw him use a racial slur led the late-night sketch comedy show to let him go.

“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joiningSNL,” anSNLspokesperson told PEOPLE at the time. “We wantSNLto have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition forSNL.”

The statement said that the show was “not aware of his prior remarks” and called them “offensive, hurtful and unacceptable.”

Shane Gillis during Promos in Studio 8H on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty

Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty

The comedian said he “respected” the show’s decision in his own statement on X (formerly Twitter), as he wrote, “Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Saturday Night Liveseason 50 premieres Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

source: people.com