Some Thoughts on Shane Gillis and the Business of Hating Women

Despite poor reviews and the ratings to match, Shane Gillis returned to Saturday Night Live to guest host for the third time in as many years. After being hired then fired from the show following the discovery of some racist jokes, Gillis has become one of the biggest names in American comedy. If you’re not part of that world, it’s easy to overlook just how big a deal Gillis has become, both on his own and as part of the incel-adjacent right-leaning comedy sphere headlined by the likes of Kill Tony and Joe Rogan. While Gillis tries to skirt the issue of his own politics, the right has proudly claimed him as one of their own, a giddy example of “anti-woke” comedy taking over and dominating the spaces they previously claimed had been tainted by cancel culture. Gillis may try to look embarrassed now and then while Rogan and company suck up to Trump and Musk, but he has no qualms about ensuring his fans know where his heart lies.

The whores joke quickly went viral after Saturday’s episode. Okay, “joke” is a strong word here. Shane Gillis just called women “whores” for wearing workout gear to the gym. The audience laughter was loud, although as the “joke” went on, and no punchline was in sight, their responses felt like mandatory reactions directed by a harried NBC page off-screen. Gillis kept digging deep into this hacky joke about women wearing tight shorts or crop tops to exercise in. The point? That dressing as you choose to is an open invite for men like Gillis to treat you as a waste of space.

This is an old “joke.” How many times have you heard, in your lifetime, some crappy comment from a gross man about how women dress too sexily or are desperate for attention or should be punished for their indecency? How many times have you heard it as justification for men’s mistreatment of you? I don’t know a lot of women who haven’t been through this nonsense at least once. Not that any type of clothing satisfies such men, of course. “Whore” or “slut” is the first insult most men jump to when they want to be cruel to a woman. The worst insult they can think of is some variation of “I would not want to have sex with you.” Thank fuck for that.

Many people condemned and criticized Gillis, including Dan Levy, and many defended him with the same well-worn cycle of smarm. It’s just a joke, you’re all so sensitive, blah blah blah. They also claimed that Gillis was brave, that he was sticking it to the man by willingly going on a comedic institution for the third time despite not being very good at it. For comedians like Gillis, this is their brand and they know it. They sell themselves as provocative truth-tellers who are saying what we’re all thinking but are too cowardly to admit in this oppressive PC society. You see, comedians are heroes of free speech, and that’s why they can just say any slur they want with no real thought put into it.

It’s an impressive trick, I must admit. Gillis, Dave Chappelle, Bill Maher, Tony Hinchcliffe, Ricky Gervais, and so many other white dudes with bad skin and big podcast contracts have it all figured out. Just say any awful, cruel, punching-down thing you can think of, then, when people don’t laugh or think it’s mean, you turn them into the scolding enemy who’s trying to censor you. They never have to try or expand their material beyond the three jokes about pronouns that were all the rage on 4Chan during the Obama administration. It’s not that you’re bad at your job, it’s that everyone else is too woke and sensitive to understand your genius. The real problem is you for not falling into a fit of hysterical laughter when Hinchcliffe makes lynching statements at the Kevin Hart roast.

Seriously, Shane, did it take you all week to come up with that whores line? What, was the airline food joke too modern for you? I have to assume that Lorne Michaels, forever clinging to the top office of SNL like Mitch McConnell, has blown enough smoke up Gillis’s rear-end to set off the fire alarm. It’s offensive, yes, but it’s also so fucking unfunny. If this is the best you can do, all the people spending their hard-earned cash on seeing you live would be wiser to hand that money over to the wallet inspector. The “fuck your feelings” crowd can never take what they dish out. They’re like delicate little butterflies who must be validated 24/7 lest you upset them and they’re forced to get attention through other means, like shitting themselves in a supermarket or dating 19-year-olds.

That’s the part that has been especially tedious for me in this seemingly never-ending faux-culture war bullshit that has plagued every corner of entertainment: these creeps fail upwards because there’s money in pandering to bigots. There always has been, but before, when that creep wasn’t in office, corporations at least had to pretend to be aware of the concept of shame. Looking at the most vulnerable minorities on the planet and deeming them to be not only an acceptable punching bag but a true danger to society has always been an easy way to make a few quid. Check out every newspaper columnist and see how many inches a week they dedicate to fearmongering over trans people, or the ways that Hollywood immediately dropped diversity plans as soon as Trump was re-elected. It’s so galling to claim that you’re saying what nobody else is nervy enough to say when you’re just repeating something that could have been found on Ted Cruz’s social media.

Dave Chappelle has at least four Netflix specials dominated by his transphobia. Jo Koy just got his latest special despite bombing hard at the Golden Globes by going on about Barbie’s boobs. Louis C.K., a self-confessed sex criminal, is back in the good books of the streaming giant, because workplace liabilities are nothing compared to that slimeball’s petty grievances. Tony Hinchcliffe’s specials are so poor that not even professional editing can hide the awkward lack of laughter. And yet I haven’t had to read a single think-piece wondering if the future of men in comedy is troubled. You can be as mid at your job as you want when the easiest thing in the world is to make bullies laugh at the same victims they’ve always mocked. Shane Gillis isn’t brave. He’s the establishment.