Lorne Michaels Was ‘Angry’ Over Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ Firing and Says NBC Made the Call; Refutes Claim ‘SNL’ Goes Softer on Democrats: ‘There’s Stupidity on Both Sides’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Lorne Michaels told The Wall Street Journal that he was “angry” when Shane Gillis got fired from “Saturday Night Live” in 2019 after offensive jokes he made on a podcast resurfaced online, including ones with racial slurs about Asian people. “He said something stupid, but it got blown up into the end of the world,” Michaels said. “I was angry.
I thought, ‘You haven’t seen what we’re going to do, and what I’m going to try to bring out in him, because I thought he was the real thing.'” Michaels said it was NBC’s decision to fire Gillis and not his own, adding: “That was very strong from the people in charge.
And obviously I was not on that side, but I understood it.” Gillis never became a “SNL” cast member, but he did return to the show in February 2024 as a host during Season 49.
The decision was a controversial one given the comedian’s firing five years prior, but Michaels stayed in touch with Gillis over the years as his popularity continued to rise.
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