Hope you've had a fantastic Tuesday.

Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show

and let's just jump into it.

And the first thing that we're gonna talk about today,

I can't believe we're having to talk about this again

and since apparently everybody else on the internet

is scared to say it,

once again I will preach it from the rooftops,

racism is bad.

(uplifting music) (crowd cheering)

I mean, it was an honor just to be nominated.

No, but the reason I'm doing this bit again

is because of this controversy

surrounding Saturday Night Live.

As you might have seen last Thursday,

you had SNL announcing three new cast members

for its upcoming 45th season:

Shane Gillis, Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang.

And initially it was actually Yang

that had most of the spotlight.

There was a lot of praise pouring in,

people excited for him

to be the only Asian-American regular on the show.

Also joining Kate McKinnon as one

of the show's two openly gay regulars.

But then the focus shifted to Shane Gillis

over the past few days,

and that is because of a series of podcasts

that he made with fellow comedian Matt McCusker

called "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast."

One of the first of these clips that went viral

was Gillis talking about Asian people living

in cultural areas like Chinatown.

- All right, no one said anything.

- Let the fucking (beep) live there.

And the translation between you and the waiter,

it's just such a fucking hassle.

It's like, can you, I'm pointing at it.

Like this is the fucking nooder.

- Which actually on the note of the video being

out there in the world,

when this story started to break,

Gillis actually deleted all the videos

from his YouTube channel.

But of course, copies were soon posted,

there were clips all over the place,

and so in those now not-so-secret podcasts,

Gillis can be heard making comments about Latino people,

Middle Eastern people, Jewish people.

You also had people sharing a clip

from a different podcast where reportedly on May 27th,

Gillis seemingly used slurs directed

at Democratic Presidential candidate, Andrew Yang.

- [Gillis] Give me your next candidate, Dems.

Jew, (beep), next.

Actually, they are running a Jew (beep).

- You also have people calling Gillis homophobic

after uncovering a podcast

where he repeatedly used an anti-gay slur.

In one of those instances, he uses the slur

right after doing a caricatured Middle Eastern accent,

all while criticizing comedians

who talk about their depression in their stand-up routines.

- [Gillis] Those guys are fucking gayer than Isis.

At least Isis is out there like,

"For me, we need to get pussy

"after we blow ourselves up, we get a bunch of pussy."

These white (beep) comics, they're like,

"I'm just sad 'cause life's hard

"and like, it turns out, and I'm gay."

- And with all of this happening,

you had a co-owner of a comedy theater

that Gillis used to perform at telling Vulture,

"Good Good Comedy Theater stopped working with him

"within the past few years because of racist, homophobic

"and sexist things he's said on and offstage."

Now, later on Thursday,

we saw Gillis kind of apologize on Twitter, writing,

"I'm a comedian who pushes boundaries.

"I sometimes miss.

"If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad,

"you're going to find a lot of bad misses.

"I'm happy to apologize to anyone

"who's actually offended by anything I've said.

"My intention is never to hurt anyone

"but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be

"and sometimes that requires risks."

Although I will note with those

that were not happy with Gillis here,

there were criticisms because it's not like a lot

of this was from 10 years ago,

with a number of them being from the past two years

and notably the most recent,

seemingly, at least according to reports,

is that Andrew Yang clip from May.

The main point, the reactions and the debate,

they continued over the weekend until yesterday

when you had SNL put out a statement saying,

"After talking with Shane Gillis,

"we have decided that he will not be joining SNL

"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.

"The language he used is offensive,

"hurtful and unacceptable.

"We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier,

"and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

Right, so you have the show pulling Gillis's offer.

You then had Gillis making another statement, writing,

"It feels ridiculous for comedians

"to be making serious public statements, but here we are.

"I'm a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL

"That can't be taken away.

"Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL,

"but I understand it would be too much of a distraction.

"I respect the decision they made.

"I'm honestly grateful for the opportunity.

"I was always a mad TV guy anyway."

And among the people responding to this news,

we saw former cast members and an SNL host chime in.

You had Sandra Oh, who hosted the show

earlier this year, saying,

"Glad to see @nbcsnl decision

"to not legitimize/give platform

"to purveyors of racist homophobic content.

"Risks?

"Lazy ass unoriginal."

You also had the likes of David Spade

talking about the oust with guests

on his Comedy Central late night show.

Notably there you had those guests bringing up

SNL's past history with racist skits,

with them specifically referencing

John Belushi portraying a Samurai back in the 70s.

In the 90s, you had Mike Myers playing a host

on a Japanese game show skit

where people cut off their fingers,

and with Spade himself saying.

- I think when I was younger on SNL,

when you get hired,

the first move wasn't to rifle through your past

to make sure you get fired right away.

- You also had Rob Schneider,

who was on the show in the 90s, saying,

"Dear Shane Gillis,

"As a former SNL cast member,

"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 a stage themselves."

Notably there, he was challenged

by another user who wrote,

"But he knew what he was doing.

"He wasn't treading the line, he was crossing it.

"He was using derogatory and racist language

"on a public platform.

"He should accept the consequences and learn from it."

To which Rob Schneider responded,

"I felt sad when I saw the clip.

"But I was even more sad that he went there

"and it wasn't funny.

"Just an ugly conversation.

"He has the right to say it,

"cancel culture is wrong but people have the right

"to call racist things racist as well."

And soon after adding, "Last thought on this.

"There's a difference between exposing truths

"through Free Speech and just being ugly.

"It's not okay to say racist things

"under the guise of comedy.

"Just because you have a mic in your hand

"doesn't make the racist things you say any less racist."

Following those comments, we saw a number of users

sharing old photos of Rob Schneider

dressed as people from different cultures.

All right, so people seemingly saying,

"Who are you to criticize?"

Also, very notably, you had Andrew Yang

jumping into the mix,

with Yang saying on Twitter,

"Shane, I prefer comedy that makes people think

"and doesn't take cheap shots.

"But I'm happy to sit down and talk with you if you'd like.

"I think we have, as a society,

"become excessively punitive and vindictive

"concerning people's statements and expressions

"we disagree with or find offensive.

"I don't think people should be losing jobs

"unless it's truly beyond the pale and egregious."

And then also adding,

"It's also the case that anti-Asian racism

"is particularly virulent

"because it's somehow considered more acceptable.

"If Shane had used the N word,

"the treatment would likely be immediate and clear."

And it appears that that message

may have resonated with Gillis

because Yang has said that the two

will be sitting down with each other.

And so that's where we are right now,

but with all of that said,

I pass the question off to you.

What are your thoughts on this?

Do you think it was right or SNL is smart in removing Gillis

or do you think it's maybe hypocritical

that SNL is getting rid of Gillis given their past,

or is it not, because the sketches being referenced

are decades old?

Yeah, I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

I mean, as far as how this goes forward,

I know that I've seen a lot of people cheering

that Gillis isn't getting this job,

they think that it's gonna be bad for his career.

I really don't think so.

This has potentially given him way more attention

than he would have gotten

as being kind of just one of the new guys on SNL.

He's been gaining followers since this started.

He could definitely ride this wave of people

that see this as PC culture run amok.

I mean, I would honestly be surprised

if this whole situation doesn't get him

thrust onto The Joe Rogan Experience

and/or maybe some other large podcast,

but there's definitely gonna be an audience for him,

especially if other comedians like Tony Hinchcliffe,

who has vouched for how funny Shane is, are correct.

Yeah, I guess give it enough time, we'll see,

but of course, once again,

I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

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