October 12, 2026
Kyle Ross/USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
Shane Gillis, pictured above at a Flyers game against the New York Rangers, has sparked outrage after calling women at the gym 'whores' in his 'SNL' monologue.
Several entertainers, activists and bestselling authors have condemned Shane Gillis for making disparaging remarks about women during his latest "Saturday Night Live" hosting stint.
The comedian hosted "SNL" last weekend for the third time since his 2019 firing from the show over racist comments. In his opening monologue, he talked about visiting the gym, and called the women he observed exercising "whores."
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"I haven't been to the gym in so long I didn't know women just dress like whores now," Gillis said. "Look, I'm sorry, there's no other way to describe. Have you seen it? I've seen it, the shorts. Have you seen the shorts? Those neon, they're like the artificial vape colors. And the wrinkles go like around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don't look, you're not allowed to look. For real, though, because they are filming. I'm in the background of like 10 TikToks right now."
The "Tires" star, who is from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, then mimed ogling a woman.
The next day, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts criticized "SNL" for its "decades-long history of sexism, from its treatment of women behind the scenes to making women the punchline onstage" in a message posted to X. Phoebe Robinson, co-creator of the comedy podcast and HBO series "2 Dope Queens," also blasted Gillis on Instagram.
"Aren't we tired?" she said. "Aren't we sick of this misogynistic, lazy a--, hack, mediocre straight male f---ing disdain for women that's masked as f---ing comedy? Don't we want better?"
Emmy-winning "Schitt's Creek" co-creator and star Dan Levy called on more men "to be standing up in opposition" to Gillis's comments and "defending women more" in a video response he shared on Instagram. As Robinson did in her message, he pointed out a double standard in Gillis's monologue, which included no mention of shirtless men who run in the park or frequent the gym.
"Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores," Levy said. "It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There's a difference there."
Levy's video received more than 1 million likes, including from Reese Witherspoon. Eagles fan and "Hacks" star Hannah Einbinder commented, "thank you dan."
Feminist bestselling author Jessica Valenti connected Gillis's comments to the ongoing national conversation around the Cornell University rape case, wherein multiple fraternity brothers allegedly sexually assaulted an incapacitated woman and encouraged others to do the same. The comedian's comments, she argued, were no ill-timed accident.
"He knows what the national conversation is," she said. "This is his contribution to that conversation. This is him telling us what he thinks of the discourse on sexual assault, and we would do very well to listen to him and take that seriously. Because I've got to tell you, this is what turns young men into rapists."
Gillis has not made any public comments about his monologue. He apologized during the show's closing for accidentally cursing in a separate sketch.
The Federal Communications Commission did not immediately clarify if it had received any complaints over Gillis's monologue or swearing.
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