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Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ fire made Lorne Michaels ‘angry’

Vaseline October 25, 2024

Lorne Michaels puts the blame on NBC for the firing of Shane Gillis from Saturday Night Live.

The “SNL” creator said in a new profile in the Wall Street Journal that he was “angry” about the decision.

“He said something stupid, but it was blown up to the end of the world,” Michaels, 79, said in the interview published Thursday. “I was angry. I thought, ‘You haven’t seen what we’re going to do and what I’m going to try to bring out in him, because I thought he was the real deal.'”

Gillis was fired from “Saturday Night Live” in 2019 before he got the chance to appear on the show. Days after announcing his addition to the cast, Gillis faced backlash over a 2018 podcast clip in which he used an anti-Asian slur, mocked stereotypical accents and said that “an Asian trying to learn English bothers me. “

USA TODAY has reached out to NBC for comment.

A spokesperson for the show said at the time that they were “unaware of his previous comments that have surfaced in recent days.” The spokesperson added: “The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We apologize that we did not see these clips sooner and that our review process did not meet our standards.”

But Michaels now says that move was NBC’s choice: “That was very strong of the people in charge. And obviously I wasn’t on that side, but I understood.”

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In a September interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Michaels added during the scandal that “200 Asian companies would boycott the show.”

Gillis apologized after the video resurfaced, saying at the time that he is a “comedian who pushes boundaries” and that he would “like to apologize to anyone who was actually offended by anything I said.”

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“If you go through my ten years of comedy, most of which is bad, you’ll find a lot of bad misses,” he continued. “It’s never my intention to hurt anyone, but I try to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that comes with risks.”

The sketch show brought Gillis back as host in February, almost five years later, to mixed reactions from viewers.

“Most of you probably have no idea who I am,” Gillis said in his monologue. “I got 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.”

He added, “Honestly, I probably shouldn’t be here.”

Contributors: Brendan Morrow and Doc Louallen