The Backlash To Shane Gillis's SNL Monologue Rolls On, And Now His Ex-Girlfriend Has Jumped In To Pile On

NBC. Getty Images.

Some of you know Shane Gillis as a colleague of Lil Sasquatch. Or perhaps you know him as the guy who Steven Cheah tried to beat up during a Case Race.

But today, a large chunk of the world knows him as the guy who calls women "whores" for wearing tight shorts to the gym. The 38-year-old comic hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend, and one of his jokes in the opening monologue has received MAJOR pushback in the days that have followed. 

Unrelated, he also dropped an F-bomb during one of the skits, which is the probably the biggest no-no you could have on that show. But the idea of him saying "Fuck" in the middle of a green eggs and ham sketch is honestly way funnier than the sketch, itself. So I'm not super hung up on it. 

But back to the whores comment. As you could imagine, this has caused quite the stir online. People have bashed Gillis for making the joke, as well as SNL for allowing the joke. "Schitt's Creek" star Dan Levy has been the most outspoken about this topic, as he took to Instagram to voice his concerns about the "misogynistic" nature of Gillis's monologue. He also questioned how the fuck it was allowed on national television. Which is a pretty valid question, if you ask me. 

This is where the real divide comes in, though, and it's a debate we've seen in comedy for years now. Are we supposed to hold comedians accountable for insensitive jokes because their words can have a harmful effect on society? OR is policing humor antithetical to the entire art of comedy? In other words, should we simply say that it's not that deep? Do we concede that they're just comedians trying to get a laugh, and we can all move on with our fucking lives? 

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think it's necessary to point out that this wasn't uncharacteristic for Shane Gillis to say at all. This is pretty much in line with what his style of comedy has been his entire career. He's edgier, and some people might have a problem with that, but there are also plenty of people who gravitate to comics like Gillis because they straddle that line. After all, comedy is subjective at the end of the day. 

Advertisement

One person who would know Gillis's humor as well as anybody is his ex-girlfriend, Grace Brassel. You might recognize her from the Average SEC Couple meme. A Twitter classic, to say the least. 

In the midst of all this backlash against Gillis, Brassel has taken to social media to shed light on their prior relationship. She also hasn't held back on throwing some jabs his way related to the joke about women at the gym. And it's been pretty well-played on her part. 

She even praised Dan Levy directly by leaving a comment on his video ripping into Shane. You can see a simple "I love you" from Brassel as you scroll through all the people duking it out in the replies. 

Advertisement

So we'll see if she continues to speak out during all this chaos. We'll see how long this chaos lasts, in general. I mean, as I write this, there are countless women on TikTok showing off their "whore" gym outfits as a fuck you to Shane.

And lastly, we'll see if SNL keeps platforming Gillis in the future, as I'm sure this incident will have serious ripple effects. I just hope that this story doesn't deter people from prioritizing their physical fitness in any way. Health is wealth, everybody.