SNL's New Hire Shane Gillis Uses Slurs, Calls Peers 'White F*ggot Comics'

The same day Saturday Night Live announced it hired a gay man named Bowen Yang as a cast member, the show's first Asian performer, it also announced the hiring of Shane Gillis, who ranked, judged, and ridiculed minorities on his podcast.

Even though Gillis tried to scrub his show, Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast, from the internet, clips surfaced on Thursday of the program. Gillis appears with co-host Matt McCusker in the September 2018 episode and the two men imitate Asian people, use anti-Asian slurs, call white women the least funny group of people (gay men are the second un-funniest), use "gay" as a pejorative, utter antigay slurs, constantly denigrate women, and sexualize transgender people, who they mockingly call "ladyboys."

Comedy reporter Seth Simons uncovered the anti-Asian podcast, where Gillis and McCusker denigrate Chinese neighborhoods, Chinese food, and imitate accents of Asian people. Discussing how Chinatowns took root in American cities, Gillis posits that planners said, "Let the ch*nks live there."

The men also discuss trans sex workers, with both comics calling them "ladyboys" and McCusker expressing disgust with them, with Gillis apparently desiring them. "Donate to Patreon so Matt and I can go to Thailand," Gillis says.

Vulture uncovered another podcast episode from last year where Gillis and McCusker focus on their aggrieved status as straight white men, bemoaning a Rolling Stone list of up-and-coming comics that focused on women, gays, and racial minorities.

"That'd be like me [ranking] new NBA draft prospects, [and choosing] eight white guys," Gillis says. "You're ignoring who's actually good at this." McCusker then says, "No, it'd be like eight white gay guys." Gillis then makes fun of gay former NFL player Michael Sam.

The men then rank different groups on how funny they are, with gay "dudes" and white "chicks" at the bottom. Gillis and McCusker then discuss Sarah Silverman's appearance ("she's a Jew," one of the men says) and criticize her for discussing women's rights.

The men then make fun of comic Hasan Minhaj, imitating his voice in a fey manner, call him a "pussy," discuss whether he's ever had sex with a man, and say he looks like a "lesbian." Then they discuss other male comics who incorporate their mental struggles into their routines.

"Those guys are fucking gayer than Isis," Gillis says. "These white f*ggot comics, they're like, I'm just sad life is hard and I'm gay."

Gillis uses the antigay slur several more times, saying at one point to succeed as a comic requires a lot of "dick-sucking." According to Gillis, talented comics eventually say, "I'm not a f*ggot so I'm not going to do this."

Gillis and McCluskey then decide fracking would no longer be popular if commercials told Americans "fracking was gay."

Gillis, toiling in the Philadelphia comedy scene, has a long history of racist, misogynistic, homophobic material, Kate Banford of the Good Good Comedy Theatre told Vulture.

"Good Good Comedy Theatre stopped working with him within the past few years because of racist, homophobic, and sexist things he's said on and offstage," Banford, co-owner of the theater, told the website.

Regarding Gillis's future at SNL, NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Advocate.