SNL fires newly hired controversial comedian

Saturday Night Live fired a comedian after Asian Americans  strongly condemned his anti-Asian slurs.

Shane Gillis, the standup comedian who's been the target of a barrage of criticism on social media for his use of racial and homophobic slurs in his routine, was fired from SNL Monday.

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," said a spokesman on behalf of SNL producer Lorne Michaels.

The spokesman explained that Gillis' racist remarks were unknown to Michaels, who hired him "on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition."

"We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show ... The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

After his dismissal, Gillis responded over Twitter, "It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are." 

Clearly, Gillis' snide farewell shows obvious lack of remorse. He still doesn't understand why what he said was offensive to so many.

Gillis was one of three new comedians added to the SNL cast last Wednesday. Among the new hires was Bowen Yang, the first Chinese American to join SNL

Hours after the SNL announced the new additions, a podcast was uncovered in which Gillis used racist slurs in referring to Chinese and Chinatown. The outcry against Gillis continued throughout the weekend on social media including comments from Presidential candidate Andrew Yang. 

The backlash continued to snowball when other material and interviews popped up on the Internet showing that being offensive to Asians, LGBTQ and women was not only part of Gillis comedic material but part of his thinking.

Studies show that Asian Americans are among the most prolific users of social media -- from producing content on Youtube, finding entertainment and news on streaming networks to just connecting with each other on Twitter, Tic Toc, Instagram and other social media. As the strong response against Gillis, the use of social media as a form of protest is something AAPI is learning to wield.

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