Unearthed video reveals new SNL cast member using racial slur [UPDATE]
New Saturday Night Live castmember Shane Gillis is depicted mocking Chinese people in an old podcast episode.
Update, 10:07PM ET, Thursday 09/12: Vulture has unearthed Shane Gillis' history of using racist and homophobic slurs over the past couple of years, including an incident where he rants about "white faggot comics" and an instance of him using race, gender, and orientation to rank how funny comedians are. In the piece, the owner of a Philadelphia comedy theatre reveals that Gillis was banned from their stage after making sexist, homophobic and racist remarks. Read Vulture's full report here.
Today, Saturday Night Live announced the hiring of Bowen Yang, the show's first-ever cast member of East Asian decent, as well as Shane Gillis and Chloe Fineman. The milestone, however, has been somewhat tempered: immediately after the news broke, video started circulating of a 2018 podcast episode in which Gillis actively mocks Chinese people, using racial slurs and doing exaggerated imitations of Chinese accents. In another segment, Gillis discusses what he calls “good racism” against Asian people. The video was unearthed by Twitter user Seth Simons (@sasimons) who wrote “today SNL announced the hiring of its first cast member of East Asian descent, and also this guy.” The video has been removed from Youtube, but clips still exist on Simons' Twitter. Watch the videos below:
The FADER has reached out to NBC Universal for comment.
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