On Feb. 4, the popular sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live announced that Shane Gillis would be hosting an upcoming show on Feb. 24. This announcement sparked immediate controversy. Shane Gillis is a comedian who previously worked on Saturday Night Live, but was fired before he even debuted as a featured cast member. He was let go because clips surfaced of him using racially insensitive and homophobic language on his podcast, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast (which, evidently, wasn’t very secret).
Given this history, it came as a shock to many that he was asked back to host the show. The comments on the announcement post include sentiments such as, “This guy is a vile racist and homophobe. The hell is wrong with you?” (@zeovgm) and, “You mean the guy you fired as a cast member because he was saying racist shit? Wow. What a disappointment SNL. I’ve been watching for decades and I’m so disappointed” ( @paleskinfeminist). Saturday Night Live is no stranger to controversy, having a history of racist impressions including the use of blackface, stereotypes, and a lack of cast diversity. However, in 2024, I think many viewers would hope that the show was moving away from that.
Despite not being a fan of Shane Gillis nor 21 Savage, I decided to go for standby tickets to SNL this week. I’ve done standby in the past, and I will say that the process this week was far easier. Normally, there are lots of people who show up to the standby line, excited about the musical guest. However, this week was severely lacking in fans. I purposefully aimed for dress rehearsal because it’s the most unedited version of the show. The audience is typically privy to around three sketches that never air, as well as any updates and monologue jokes that get cut. Given Gillis’ controversial past, I had secret hopes of catching something too problematic to make it to the live show. It was interesting seeing how different the demographic was from the previous times I’ve been to SNL; the laughter of the audience surely went down a whole octave.
The monologue was rough; anyone could tell you that. He used an ableist slur that I was certain wouldn’t make it to air, but lo and behold, it did. Many of the sketches certainly touched on Gillis’ reputation. As is the case in any week, there were sketches that landed really well and some that didn’t. An audience member at the dress rehearsal, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “To be honest I was nervous, knowing his history is not the best. All things considered, I think it was a good show for SNL. I understand that SNL is edgy, but I also believe that some sketches that made it to live were not the strongest of the night.” I don’t know what the process is for what gets cut and what makes it to the live show, but it was disappointing knowing that some really funny (and less controversial) sketches didn’t make it through.
Aside from the host, 21 Savage put on an excellent show. I wasn’t previously familiar with his music, but the performance was dazzling. His first performance of “redrum” had a gothic aesthetic,featuring a violinist and ballet dancers. During his second performance on the show, he brought out Brent Faiyaz and Summer Walker. The musical performance really took the cake for this episode.
The show certainly could have gone worse, but it was disappointing to know that a show with such a huge platform chose to invite someone who they had previously distanced themselves from based on values. The show’s producer, Lorne Michaels, said, “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 a 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.” I wanted to go into this episode with an open mind, and while I did enjoy aspects of it, his word choice during the monologue left a sour taste in my mouth that wasn’t quite made up for by his talent. Moving forward, I’ll be watching to see how this affects the future of Saturday Night Live hosts.