After more than five years of speculation about Shane Gillis‘ exit from Saturday Night Live, Bowen Yang has found himself in the middle of a culture war.
The 5x Emmy nominee recently called Gillis a “funny guy” and clarified they have a “mutual respect,” despite being pitted against each other over the circumstances of Gillis’ ousting from the NBC sketch comedy show in 2019.
“Both of us have had to navigate being used,” Yang told host Marc Maron on the WTF podcast. “I think there was like a recruitment going on either side of like, ‘If you like this guy, then this is what you stand for, and if you like this guy, then this is what you stand for.’ And I think both of us are probably a little more dimensional than that.”
Gillis was announced as a featured cast member on SNL in 2019, along with Yang and Chloe Fineman. He was removed from the cast shortly afterward when his past anti-Chinese and anti-gay jokes resurfaced, none of which mentioned Yang.
Yang noted on the podcast that he and Gillis talked at the time and bonded over being used for headlines. He’s previously shut down accusations that he got Gillis fired from the cast.
Last October, creator Lorne Michaels told the Wall Street Journal that Gillis’ termination was NBC’s decision. “That was very strong from the people in charge. And obviously I was not on that side, but I understood it,” he said.
Gillis has since returned to Studio 8H to host SNL twice, in February 2024 and earlier this year in March.
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