Comedian Shane Gillis’ racist, homophobic slurs resurface ahead of ‘SNL’ hosting gig 5 years after firing

NEW YORK — Racist, homophobic and ethnic slurs used by comedian Shane Gillis have resurfaced online in the wake of the news he’ll be hosting “Saturday Night Live” — the show that once fired him due to his past problematic behavior.

"SNL" on Saturday announced Gillis as the host of its Feb. 24 episode, alongside musical guest 21 Savage. But it didn’t take long for pushback on the casting decision, with many recalling the controversial jokes and offensive language he previously used on his podcasts.

In clips from the show “A Fair One,” gathered by TMZ on Tuesday, Gillis can be heard using the N-word, as well as homophobic and antisemitic slurs.

Following the hosting announcement, fans also flocked to social media to express their disappointment and disgust.

“So SNL invites a transphobe up to the stage last week, a presidential candidate who espouses anti-LGBTQ hate on tonight, and next week a guy who got fired from SNL for making racist Asian jokes,” actor and writer Jeff Locker wrote on Instagram Saturday. “I’ve loved SNL my whole life, but JFC Lorne, WTF are you doing? This is not f–ing OK.”

Gillis was originally hired as an “SNL” cast member in 2019, but was fired days later — before ever appearing on the show — amid public outcry due to previous racist remarks, particularly directed at Asians.

“Chinatown’s f–ing nuts. Let the f–ing ch—s live there,” Gillis said in a now-deleted video from a 2018 episode of “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast” with comedian Matt McCusker. Gillis in the clip also mimicked a Chinese accent and made fun of Chinese restaurants.

The backlash quickly led “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels to release a statement saying the comedian would not be joining the show after all.

“We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days,” the statement said at the time. “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.”

The comedian fired back initially, joking on Twitter that he was “always a Mad TV guy anyway,” before issuing an apology on Instagram to “anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.”

“I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,” he added.

As of Tuesday evening, representatives for Gillis had not returned a request for comment. “SNL” has also not commented on what led to their decision to bring Gillis back.