As Saturday Night Live fans eviscerate Shane Gillis‘ third hosting attempt, Kathy Griffin is weighing in on his controversial monologue.
Following last weekend’s episode, the 2x Emmy winning comedian called out Gillis and other “hacks” under “Joe Rogan‘s influence,” following backlash to Gillis calling women “whores” for wearing shorts at the gym.
“I think as a comic I’m always going to fight for the First Amendment and his right to say it and yet I don’t have to like it,” Griffin told the Page Six. “So, I defend his right to say it, and I also defend everyone else’s right to think less of him.
Gillis’ opening monologue during SNL was a tight five about getting into shape with workout buddies Rogan and Theo Von, during which he put on his best femme voice to mimic gym gays and complained that “women just dress like whores now” at the gym.
While Gillis’ brief set bombed on Saturday, it also drew backlash from fellow comedians and fans alike, especially in the wake of an alleged gang rape by fraternity members known as the Cornell 7.
Griffin sees Rogan’s comedian manosphere as the issue, explaining “they all tell the same jokes,” often at the expense of women.
“There are a lot of hacks who are doing very well, and they come from TikTok or the podcast world,” she noted. “He’s not the only guy to break out from Joe Rogan’s influence.”
Griffin continued, “There are so many; they all look alike to me. They all look like they can’t get laid; they all sound alike to me; they all tell the same jokes… and they tell these jokes about women that are from like 100 years ago, like women should be in the kitchen and shut up and all this other stuff.”
Gillis’ latest hosting gig on SNL comes after he hosted in 2024 and 2025, following his removal from the NBC sketch comedy‘s featured cast days after he was announced in 2019. The decision came in response to resurfaced videos of Gillis mocking Asian accents, in addition to using ethnic and gay slurs.