Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Bill Hader is the latest celebrity to comment on the show’s recent decision to fire comedian Shane Gillis.
Gillis was sacked from “SNL” less than a week after he was announced as a new cast member, after previous recordings resurfaced featuring the comedian making homophobic and racial slurs.
Speaking to reporters backstage at the 2019 Emmy Awards on Sunday following his win in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category, Hader threw in his two cents on the topic.
“No, I have no thoughts on that,” he said with a laugh when first asked, but continued:
“I feel like you shouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Especially in comedy, you do stuff six or seven years ago that wouldn’t be okay now for good reason so I only speak for myself but, like anybody, you have to grow,” he said.
“I think it’s a good thing. I’m never interested in upsetting anybody.”
Gillis’ comments, in which he called Chinese people “chinks” and denigrated Chinese accents, and mocked comedians who have spoken out about mental health as “white faggot comics,” were made in September 2018 in two episodes of his podcast.
Rob Schneider, another “SNL” alum, weighed in last week to support Gillis, blaming the “era of cultural unforgiveness” for the uproar. Many others, including actor Sandra Oh, who hosted “SNL” earlier this year, said the NBC comedy show was right to fire Gillis.
Watch Hader’s answer to backstage questions at the Emmys above.
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