LOS ANGELES (1010 WINS/AP) — A newly announced "Saturday Night Live" cast member posted a video last year in which he used a racial slur for Chinese people and derided Asians trying to learn English. Plus he also made homophobic and sexist comments.
The clip of Shane Gillis re-emerged in a news report Thursday, just hours after NBC said that he and two others, including the show's only Asian American performer, were joining the cast as featured players.
The video apparently was posted in 2018 to a YouTube channel featuring Gillis and fellow comedian Matt McCusker, according to a Variety story . Seth Simons, a freelance writer and editor covering comedy, re-posted a clip from the video on Twitter and brought it to the trade paper's attention, Variety said.
In the clip, Gillis says, "Damn, Chinatown's fucking nuts," Gillis says in the video.
"It is full f****** China. It is [Chinese> down there," he continues, this time in a mocking accent. "Let the f****** ch**** [slur for Chinese people> live there."
In a second clip shared by Simons, Gillis says that "an Asian trying to learn English" bothers him more than "any other minority playing music in a restaurant loud on their phone."
He then describes his racist jokes as "nice racism, good racism."
Gillis also complains in the video that Chinese restaurants are full of "(expletive) Chinese. ... And the translation between you and the waiter is just such a (expletive) hassle."
Gillis said he's more annoyed by hearing an Asian trying to learn English when he's eating out than by any other "minority" playing music. He characterized that reaction as "nice racism, good racism," adding that whites would be a similar target if they were speaking English "over there," not specifying where he meant.
Also in the video, while talking about the Battle of Gettysburg, Gillis refers to soldiers yelling as "so gay." Gillis uses the word "retard," and "f-ggot," and shortly afterward he and McCusker joke about "hot Southern boys" being raped during the Civil War, comparing it to "having gay sex in jail."
Gillis, in describing women who disguised themselves as men to fight in the war, refers to them as "flat chested f****** bitch[es>."
NBC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Gillis tweeted, "I'm happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said."
The other new "SNL" cast members announced are Bowen Yang, who joined the show last season as a staff writer and is co-host of a podcast, "Las Culturistas," and Chloe Fineman,, who's been a regular performer with the Groundlings improv company. She and Gillis were featured as "New Faces" at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
"Saturday Night Live" has taken heat over the years for an overall lack of ethnic diversity, with scant Asian representation among its cast members or hosts.
Former players Fred Armisen and Rob Schneider both are one-quarter Asian, but neither has been widely recognized for their Asian ancestry. Among hosts, the long history of "SNL" includes a short list of Asian or Asian Americans, with Awkwafina, Aziz Ansari and Jackie Chan among them.
Change is a constant at "SNL." Leslie Jones, who joined the show after it was criticized in 2013 for the absence of an African American woman among its regular or featured players, is focusing on stand-up and movies and won't be back this season.
The show returns Sept. 28 for its 45th season with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish.
