On September 12, 2019, three new cast members were hired to join Saturday Night Live’s award winning cast as they were set to commence Season 45. Talented comedians Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, and Shane Gillis were ready to show off their comedic prowess. 

The news was shortlived, however, as  damaging footage from the 2018 podcast Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast surfaced featuring comedian and author Matt McCusker and Shane Gillis was uploaded on YouTube. In the now deleted video, Gillis and McCusker made racist and homophobic statements, which included an untrue allegation that “they [Chinese restauranteurs] made MSG.” Gillis additionally referred to Chinese individuals by an ethnic slur, mocked accented waiters, and appropriated a racist Asian accent. 

As a result of the developments, a representative of SNL, creator Lorne Michaels released a statement saying, “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL.” In response to the unearthed podcast, the SNL spokesperson remarked, “We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. 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.” 

Ward Melville sophomore Peri Micheva agreed with the ultimate decision, as she affirmed, “I think SNL was right to fire him, considering he made insensitive remarks towards Asian people.”