Shane Gillis, a Mechanicsburg native who has gone on to great success as a stand-up comic, is once again in the spotlight for controversial race-based jokes he made in the past.
Gillis was announced as a new cast member of “Saturday Night Live” in 2019, only for NBC to rescind their job offer after critics pointed out Gillis’ use of racial slurs in his podcast.
But Gillis has found national success as a stand-up comedian despite that career setback, earning a sponsorship from Budweiser and even returned to “SNL” for a hosting gig earlier this year.
And Netflix even picked up his series, “Tires,” which began airing on the streaming platform in May.
All of this success sends a “very hurtful message” about how someone can get away with racial discrimination, according to a statement from several Asian-American rights groups.
Variety reports that leaders from several groups, including the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Chinese American Citizens Alliance Los Angeles and the Greater Los Angeles Japanese American Citizens League, gathered for a press conference, asking that Gillis apologize for the use of anti-Asian slurs in his comedy.
According to AsAmNews, the groups have asked that Gillis issue a public apology, or they will continue to petition companies like Budweiser and Netflix not to work with him.
Variety reports that Gillis did apologize in 2019, stating, “I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I said. My intention is never to hurt anyone. But I’m trying to be the best comedian I can be. And sometimes that requires risks.”
However, Gillis would later state on another podcast in 2019 that he felt his apology “was [expletive] corny. I don’t know if I really hurt too many people.” And MANAA presiddent Guy Aoki called out Gillis for his “lame apology” at the press conference.
“If you duck a few years, slowly build your career back up and continue on as if nothing had happened, you can come…
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