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Michael Che Clarifies Reaction to Shane Gillis' SNL Monologue
Confirmed
In Short: Michael Che, Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live (SNL), clarified his reaction to Shane Gillis' divisive monologue on Oct. 10.
Michael Che, Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live (SNL), clarified his reaction to Shane Gillis' divisive monologue on Oct. 10. Gillis had made a joke about women wearing short shorts at the gym, which Che initially seemed to skirt around during an appearance on the Today show.
Che took to Instagram on Oct. 16 to address the issue more directly, stating, 'Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there,' as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Ego Nwodim, a former SNL cast member, also responded to Gillis' monologue with a sassy Instagram post, captioning a photo of herself at the gym, 'Whore reporting for duty,' and another of her post-workout meal, 'Getting my 30 grams of protein in after heauxing.'
Che further explained his initial hesitation to comment directly on the Today show, noting that he was promoting his new comedy special, which includes jokes that some might find offensive. He said, 'I haven’t been to the gym in so long,' and 'gotta do more press this week to promote the special,' as reported by NBCDFW and Today.
During his monologue, Gillis had joked about women dressing like 'whores' at the gym, a comment that drew little laughter from the studio audience. Gillis later apologized for the joke, saying, 'I didn’t think about it honestly,' when asked about it.
Dan Levy, co-creator and star of Schitt's Creek, also criticized Gillis' joke, aligning with Che's stance that such language is offensive and hurtful.
Gillis' monologue included other controversial elements, such as a joke about his friend Joe Rogan that silenced the room, and an accidental F-bomb during a sketch, which he apologized for at the end of the show.
The SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels' spokesperson stated that the show values a variety of voices and points of view, but the language Gillis used was 'offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable.'
What this adds
Che's clarification on Instagram provided more context to his initial awkward reaction on the Today show.
Gillis' apology and the mixed reactions from the audience and cast members highlight the sensitivity of the topic and the show's commitment to addressing offensive content.
What's confirmed
- “Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there,” he wrote in part.
- Gillis was criticized when he joked that women dress like “whores” at the gym.
- “I was at cue cards, actually, thinking about what I was going to say that was going to make people upset, so I didn’t even see it until, like, the next day,” he responded.
What's still developing
- “folks, I just want to make one thing abundantly clear,” Che began a series of slides bearing text shared to Instagram Oct. 16.
- “squat nekkid.” But while Che had initially attempted to skirt answering direct questions from Jarrett about the now-infamous monologue, other male celebrities were far less hesitant to share their opinion.
- Gillis appeared to draw few laughs from the studio audience after making the remark during the monologue, which marked his third time hosting the NBC sketch comedy show. (“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.) After lamenting that he needs to lose weight, he went on to describe the “neon, artificial-vape colored” shorts that women are wearing to work out, and the fact that men are not allowed to look at women in those shorts.
- Representatives for “SNL” and Gillis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
- “This is his contribution to that conversation,” she said.
- Mikey actually got the most plaudits from fans, though, for improving with the gaffe itself. Fans reacted to the slip-up with comments online like: "How they incorporated the accidental slip within the sketch is genius!!" plus: "I like how the unscripted accidental slip was the funniest part of this sketch," as well as: "I was thinking 'wow, Shane's going to get in the 5 timers club quick at this rate!' Then the f bomb might postpone that a bit."
- During the "Green Eggs & Ham" sketch with Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes, which you can watch above, Shane accidentally dropped an F-bomb in place of the word "jeez," and quickly tries to cover it up, to the audience's shock.
- He did apologize for the moment when closing the show, saying: "Sorry about earlier." Mikey actually got the most plaudits from fans, though, for improving with the gaffe itself.
- After a stand-up style monologue that incited mixed reactions from the in-studio audience, including jokes about his friend Joe Rogan that silenced the room and digs at women in gyms, he accidentally committed one of the show's greatest faux pas – swearing on-air.
- Shane Gillis' third time hosting Saturday Night Live did not go down the way he'd probably hoped.
- “It’s not a morning time special but it is really fun,” he told TODAY’s Laura Jarrett.
- “There’s so much going on. It’s really hard to see what everyone is doing, especially for me. I’m not what they call ‘good at my job,’ so I don’t pay attention to that,” he said.