Shane Gillis’ turn on ‘SNL’ shows that all too often, bigotry sells

Comedian Shane Gillis hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, leading some to criticize the famed TV sketch show for giving a platform to the controversial comedian, who has a well-documented history of making racist comments.

The 36-year-old comic has been known to spew offensive jokes and off-base remarks about Blacks, Asians, Jews, the LGBTQ community and other groups. In fact, Gillis was hired by “SNL” in 2019 to be a member of the cast, but was fired before his first show over racist comments about Asians he’d made on his podcast the previous year.

So, what’s changed since 2019? Gillis certainly doesn’t appear to have.

In 2021, when asked about the ethnic slurs that got him fired before his planned debut on “SNL,” the comedian didn’t even attempt to dial back his offensive remarks. “I definitely wouldn’t have changed what we did, our podcast,” he told fellow podcaster Theo Von. “That’s how I got to New York.”