As fast as the announcement hit the trades that Shane Gillis would be one of the newest cast members on “Saturday Night Live” for the upcoming season, Gillis fell victim to the “cancel culture” and was subsequently fired.
Gillis utilized shock comedy when he said some racially charged slurs about the Asian community.
But you’ll never believe the conservative reason why “SNL” initially hired Shane Gillis in the first place.
Liberals rejoiced in their successful venture of getting Shane Gillis fired from “Saturday Night Live.” It’s a comedian’s job to take risks but this time it was probably career-ending.
Gillis said in a clip from “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast”, dated September 2018 and brought to light on Twitter by freelance writer Seth Simons, Gillis refers to “the f–king ch-nks” while riffing with co-host Matt McCusker on Chinatown’s architecture and restaurants. Gillis and McCusker also use racist pronunciations such as “dericious” and “nooders,” and goes on about the “f–king hassle” of communicating their menu orders to Chinese waiters.
It was over-the-top. There’s no question about that. You could even argue that it wasn’t even funny either. But it also seems like some people are grandfathered in like, for instance, Trey Parker and Matt Stone who have made fun of Asian stereotypes since the beginning of “South Park.”
What’s the difference? It’s likely because Gillis’ career was probably just starting to take off.
But there was a sly reason why executive producer Lorne Michaels hired Gillis in the first place.
That reason is because they thought Gillis would appeal to a conservative crowd.
According to Variety, “The long-running NBC comedy show and series mastermind Lorne Michaels were actively looking to cast a comedian for its new season who would appeal to more conservative viewers. This was meant to counteract the appearance of a liberal bias on the show, given that it has seen a major resurgence in popularity in recent years with Alec Baldwin regularly portraying President Donald Trump while other cast members and guest stars have played members of his administration and those in his orbit.”
That seems a little odd, doesn’t it?
Are they really not fully aware they lost the conservative audience a long time ago because they attempt to shame President Trump and his supporters every Saturday night?
Did Lorne Michaels actually think that the hiring of one guy would get conservatives to tune into “Saturday Night Live”?
That’s the epitome of delusion if he thought that would be the case.
Also, how did Michaels think this would work? Did he really think the liberal cast would embrace him as one of his own assuming he is a Trump supporting conservative.
It’s not even clear what Gillis’ political affiliation is at this point and we may never know.
Many of those who spoke with Variety agreed that “SNL’s” vetting process was “severely lacking” in this case.
Michaels took the weekend to gather information before making Gillis’ firing official on Monday. This was clearly a learning lesson, and one that will lead to a much more extensive vetting process, insiders added.
Now, there’s no way anybody will hire Gillis in the entertainment industry. His career is effectively over because of his flat joke. You can thank the cancel culture for that one once again.