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Bowen Yang has shut down a claim that he had anything to do with former Saturday Night Live co-star Shane Gillis’ firing.
Stand-up comedian Gillis, 37, was originally hired alongside current SNL cast members Yang and Chloe Fineman to join the NBC sketch series in 2019. However, he was fired before he was able to make his debut after podcast clips of him making homophobic and racist jokes resurfaced.
Since then, he was welcomed back to host the show in 2024 and is set to host the forthcoming episode alongside musical guest Tate McRae.
Ahead of his upcoming guest appearance, SNL posted a promo clip on Instagram. Below, in the post’s comment section, a stand-up comic named Michelle Best wrongly blamed Bowen for Gillis’s unceremonious exit.
“Can we acknowledge that Bowen Yang b****ed him off the show,” Best wrote, praising Gillis for “being the bigger man to come host after being unfairly ditched bc of a whiny queen.”
“SNL fired him as a hater,” she added. “He’s not. He’s very kind and has smart humor and stands up to bullying. Good for him!”
Yang later responded to the blatant accusation, writing: “Didn’t do any of this but i wrote the sketch you were a background actor in [smiley face emoji].”
At the time of Gillis’ firing, an SNL spokesperson explained: “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 comedian and his impressive audition for SNL.
“We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days,” they added. “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.”
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Following his firing, Gillis apologized to “anyone actually offended” by his comedy, tweeting that he is a “comedian who pushes boundaries.”
“If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,” he added. “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.”
He later addressed his firing on social media, writing: “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t get taken away.
“Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction,” he continued. “I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity.”