“Saturday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson weighed in on Shane Gillis‘ controversial monologue, which sparked social media outrage due to a joke about women dressing like “whores” at the gym.
“I know Shane, and I don’t know him to be a mean person, necessarily,” Thompson said at the Axios Media Trends Live summit. “But if he were to come back [to ‘SNL’], I’m sure we would have a conversation of like, ‘How do you think that went?’ You know what I mean? And, ‘What do you think you could have done?’ Like a little kid, you know? I would just sit him down and be like, ‘So what do you think we could change there, pal?’”
Thompson said the monologue is about “finding the balance of both things — allowing creative liberties but also watching your step as far as harmful words are concerned.”
He lamented that while the internet was focused on “one specific word,” the rest of the monologue and the rest of the episode was “overshadowed” by the backlash.
“Grace [Reiter], one of our newest cast members, had a phenomenal show, and it’s sad because nobody’s even talking about it,” Thompson said. “Even [musical guest] Rosalía is getting overshadowed because we want to go back and forth on what’s offensive and what’s not.”
Thompson emphasized that it is “not my decision” as to whether Gillis will be invited back to host “SNL,” but “if he were to come back, then I think we would have to have some sort of real chat where people’s actions don’t wave-pool the rest of us.”
While Gillis’ monologue drew laughs inside Studio 8H, the online reception was not so friendly, with celebrities like Dan Levy calling out the comedian and implying he is a “misogynist.” Recent “SNL” alumni like Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong shaded Gillis for the joke, while comedian Dana Carvey defended the comedian and said he “didn’t understand the kerfuffle.”
Sitting next to Thompson at the Axios summit was Peter Micelli, CEO and co-founder of Range Media Partners, which represents Gillis. Micelli defended the role of comedians to “test boundaries” and criticized the media for promoting headlines that “create fear and anxiety.”
“Every time Shane Gillis goes up there and you watch his monologue — he mostly made fun of himself the whole time, and he’s a lovely human being. Shane is a wonderful man. Comedians test boundaries, and if they don’t test boundaries, guess what? Nobody’s going to watch them,” Micelli said. “Comedians need some space to do some stuff to make us laugh. … Let artists be artists. Let artists create. … Artists tell us the truth, so we need to support artists more than ever to push those boundaries [and] let us loosen up a little bit. It’s a balance we desperately need.”
A representative for Gillis declined to comment.