Although I usually explore a different form of comedy each week, this week I wanted to explore a topical conversation happening frequently in comedy circles by taking a closer look at SNL’s recent firing of new cast member Shane Gillis. Gillis, one of three new cast members announced last week, was let go due to his use of racial slurs (against Asian people) on an episode of his podcast.
Gillis’s comments are even more pertinent to his situation because one of the comedians he was hired alongside, Bowen Yang, made history as SNL’s first Asian cast member. This step forward for diversity contrasts heavily with Gillis’s use of racial slurs, and because of this, it seems as though SNL made the right choice in firing him.
However, there are many in the comedy community (and beyond) who disagree. For instance, Rob Schneider, an SNL alum who is also a quarter Filipino, tweeted “I am sorry that you had the misfortune of being a cast member during this era of cultural unforgiveness where comedic misfires are subject to the intolerable inquisition of those who never risked bombing on stage themselves.” While this is in no way an endorsement of Gillis’s comments, it does go after what some call “cancel culture,” especially as it relates to comedy. How far is too far? As long as the material is funny, is there even a limit to what can be said?
On the one hand, context is important. Take the popular game Cards Against Humanity. As its tagline claims, it is the “party game for terrible people.” The objective of the game is to match white cards with black cards to create the most humorous and sometimes utterly offensive combination possible. Occasionally, even reading a combination created aloud can cause uncomfortable shudders as the borderline racist, homophobic, or ableist punchline is read aloud.
However, because these “jokes” are made in the context of a card game with close friends, their meaning carries less weight. Since the words are not actually the player’s own, and since players are not broadcasting them to a wider audience, it is understood that the underlying beliefs behind what the players are saying don’t actually exist. It should also be mentioned that while Cards Against Humanity allows for some pretty cringe-worthy language, it never has used racial slurs like Gillis.
This contrasts with Gillis’s comments because he used the slurs on his own podcast, choosing to leave them in and publish it. By consciously choosing to broadcast these so-called jokes to the world, he also is consenting to have people react, whether positively or negatively, to the things that he said. His choice to use and knowingly publish offensive language demonstrates a lack of judgment. Furthermore, the use of slurs, whatever your perspective on cancel culture in comedy, should be considered “crossing the line,” since there is really no context in which using one could be considered funny or humorous. Because of this, I believe that SNL ultimately made the right choice in letting Gillis go.
I also agree with what you said, that SNL made the right choice letting Shane Gillis go. There is also something that shocked me greatly: I remember the Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang saying that SNL shouldn’t have let Shane Gillis go. Now that I know who Shane Gillis really is, I am shocked to know that an Asian person would say something like this. It came as a shock especially since Shane Gillis used slurs against Asian people, and Andrew Yang is defending something like that. As a POC myself, I can’t imagine letting someone slide like that when someone makes offensive jokes against my culture and even uses offensive slurs against my race of people. Personally, I am shocked and I can’t honestly wrap my head around this.
While if find the use of any racial, homophobic, transphobic or any other kind of slur absolutely repugnant, I can’t say I agree with cancel culture as a whole. I agree that SNL has the ability to fire him because it is a private company and can do as it sees fit to protect profits or for any other reason. I can also see why they fired him because having someone on the show who has said things like that in the past could cost the show viewers. I personally go with the mantra of sticks and stones but one has to protect their capital interests first when providing a service, which SNL is.
See Popeyes menu although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.