Hi, guys! I wanted to share these articles I have come across concerning the new cast members of SNL, most notably Bowen Yang and Shane Gillis. Bowen Yang, who is Chinese-American and previously wrote for SNL in 2018, was recently promoted to a full-time cast member. He is the first comedian of East Asian descent to be a cast member on the show, and the tardiness with which this milestone has been achieved has been criticized.
Additionally, in conjunction with Yang’s promotion, SNL had announced the hiring of Shane Gillis a few days ago. Backlash was near immediate. As discussed in the articles I’ve attached, Gillis was recorded making anti-Asian racist remarks on a podcast about a year ago, including the use of a slur and insulting jokes about Chinatown. News broke today that Gillis has been fired for his remarks, thus stirring up a debate on free speech from the right.
On Shane Gillis:
On Bowen Yang:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/bowen-yang-joins-snl-recurring-cast-in-season-45.html
I heard about this as well and I just wanted to comment my frustrations with things like this. It irritates me to no end when comedians and/or defenders of them claim freedom of speech or “it was just a joke” after saying/writing something racist. Because that sucks. As someone who wants to be a comedy writer it just plain upsets me. These people are comedians and they know what is and isn’t racist. I am glad we live a society that is able to keep people accountable though like in this instant.