SNL drops Shane Gillis following racial and homophobic slur controversy

The Hollywood Reporter

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," said a Saturday Night Live spokesperson in a statement, speaking on behalf of executive producer Lorne Michaels. "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 comedian and his impressive audition for SNL. 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. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard." Gillis' casting last week sparked controversy within hours after his past use of anti-Asian and anti-gay slurs were uncovered. Gillis released his own statement on Twitter, saying: "It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are. 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 Mad TV guy anyway." ALSO: Andrew Yang tweeted that Gillis reached out after calling him a "Jew ch*nk." "Looks like we will be sitting down together soon," tweeted the Democratic presidential candidate.