SNL Taps Shane Gillis, Famously Fired From the Show Over Racist and Homophobic ‘Jokes,’ to Host

Saturday Night Live announced this weekend that Shane Gillis, the comedian who, just moments after being hired, was notably fired from the show for his history of making racist and homophobic comments, will host the Feb. 24 episode.

In 2019, Gillis was one of three new additions announced for SNL‘s 45th season, along with Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang. But within hours of that announcement, Twitter was flooded with questionable clips from Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast — which Gillis co-hosted with fellow comic Matt McCusker in 2018 — in which he used a racist slur to describe people living in New York City’s Chinatown. He was then fired from the sketch comedy series.

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At the time of his exit, SNL boss Lorne Michaels said: “We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days.” He called language used by Gillis “offensive, hurtful and unacceptable.”

Gillis later released his own statement. “It feels ridiculous for comedians to making serious public statements but here we are,” he wrote on X shortly after his firing was announced. “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away. 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 [MADtv] guy anyway.”

Since his swift SNL exit, Gillis has appeared in Pete Davidson’s Bupkis and Gilly and Keeves.

Serving as musical guest will be 21 Savage, the Grammy-winning rapper who released his third studio album American Dream in January.

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