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SNL's Michael Che Clarifies Reaction to Shane Gillis' Monologue
· Confirmed
In Short: Michael Che, Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live, clarified his reaction to Shane Gillis' controversial monologue, which included a joke about women's clothing in gyms.
Michael Che, Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live (SNL), clarified his reaction to Shane Gillis' controversial monologue on Oct. 15.
Gillis' monologue drew mixed reactions from the in-studio audience and sparked backlash for a joke about women's clothing in gyms, where he said women dress like 'whores' in spandex shorts.
Che appeared on the Today show to promote his new comedy special and was asked about Gillis' monologue. He initially tried to avoid answering directly, but later took to social media to clarify his stance.
On Instagram, Che posted, 'Folks, I just wanna make one thing abundantly clear… i did NOT laugh.' He explained, 'I didn’t think about it honestly,' when asked about the joke.
Che also noted, 'I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?' He added, 'I’m not what they call ‘good at my job,’ so I don’t pay attention to that,' suggesting he was not fully aware of the monologue's content.
Gillis apologized for the moment when closing the show, saying, 'Sorry about earlier.' He also defended his joke, describing the shorts as 'neon, artificial-vape colored' and noting that men are not allowed to look at women in those shorts.
SNL's executive producer Lorne Michaels' spokesperson said, 'We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL.'
Che acknowledged the difficulty of the situation, saying, 'That’s why I can’t criticize anybody for swinging and missing because I’ve definitely swung and missed, too.'
Background
Michael Che, Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live (SNL), clarified his reaction to Shane Gillis' controversial monologue on Oct. 10, which included a joke about women's clothing in gyms.
What's confirmed
- Gillis was criticized when he joked that women dress like “whores” at the gym.
- “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?” Gillis said on the late-night show.
- “It’s not a morning time special but it is really fun,” he told TODAY’s Laura Jarrett.
- “That’s why I can’t criticize anybody for swinging and missing because I’ve definitely swung and missed, too,” Che said.
- “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.
What's still developing
- The 43-year-old went on to note how his Oct. 15 appearance on Today —during which host Laura Jarrett pressed Che on whether he had laughed at Gillis’ monologue joke that called wh--es for wearing spandex shorts to the gym—was to promote his new comedy special, within which he makes many jokes that people could find offensive.
- “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.
- “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.
- 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.
- 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.
- In response, Nwodim took to her Instagram Story on Monday to share a photo of herself at the gym with the caption, “Whore reporting for duty.” In another post, she shared a photo of her post-workout meal, adding, “Getting my 30 grams of protein in after heauxing.” Nwodim was a castmember on SNL for seven seasons, from 2018 to 2025.
- “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.