The video featured Gillis making racist remarks at Chinese people. According to People, a Saturday Night Live spokesperson stated: "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 tweets about the situation
Gillis wrote on Twitter: "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."
Mixed Responses
The twitter post by Gillis got mixed comments from the public with some saying that comedians cannot be taken seriously but with one person calling Gillis a "homophobic, misogynistic, racist who will be forgotten".