Andrew Yang: racist comment by SNL hire 'should be taken in different light'

The Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang insisted on Sunday the words of a new Saturday Night Live cast member who called him a “Jew chink” “should be taken in a slightly different light”.

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“There have been a number of reactions to my call for forgiving Shane Gillis,” Yang said on CNN's State of the Union. “I’ve experienced a lot of anti-Asian racism throughout my upbringing and it hurts. It’s something that’s very real. I do think anti-Asian racial epithets are not taken as seriously as slurs against other groups.”

But, echoing a series of Tweets, the tech entrepreneur added: “At the same time, bigger picture: I believe that our country has become excessively punitive and vindictive about remarks that people find offensive or racist.

“We need to try to move beyond that, if we can, particularly in a case where the person … [is] like a comedian whose words should be taken in a slightly different light.”

Gillis was announced as a new member of the SNL cast this week, alongside Bowen Yang – a writer for the show who is now its first Asian cast member – and Chloe Fineman.

Shortly after that, a freelance journalist uncovered footage of Gillis making racist and homophobic statements, including offensive remarks about Asian people, culture and food, on Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. A deluge of similar footage followed.

Gillis’s comments about Yang were first reported by Vice. Discussing the Democratic presidential race on Luis J Gomez’s Real Ass Podcast, Gillis, 31, is heard initially referring to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

“That Jew chink?” Gillis says. “Commie Jew chink? Next, please, next. Gimme your next candidate, Dems. Jew chink, next. Actually, they are running a Jew chink: Chang, dude.”

He adds: “Yang, or Chang?”

By Sunday lunchtime, NBC and Saturday Night Live had not commented.

Gillis issued a statement on Thursday, saying he was “a comedian who pushes boundaries”.

“I sometimes miss,” he said. “If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses. I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said. My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.”

On Saturday, Yang tweeted: “For the record, I do not think he should lose his job. We would benefit from being more forgiving rather than punitive. We are all human.”

On Sunday, CNN host Jake Tapper also asked Yang about criticism that some of his own comments about being Asian American reinforce harmful stereotypes. During the debate in Houston this week, for example, the tech entrepreneur remarked: “I am Asian, so, I know a lot of doctors.”

On CNN, he said: “The Asian American community is very diverse and certainly, I would never claim that my individual experience would speak to the depth and breadth of our community. At the same time, I think Americans are very smart, and they can actually see right through that kind of myth.

“If anything, by poking fun at it, I’m making Americans reflect a little bit more on them.”