The Takeaway: For what it’s worth, Lewandowski promoted his book and launched a Senate run website during the hearing. No, really.
Saturday Night Live‘s Shane Gillis Saga
What Happened: Saturday Night Live hired, then fired, a comedian over his past comments. The internet, naturally, had many opinions on the matter.
What Really Happened: Last week, Saturday Night Live announced three new cast members for its upcoming season, a list that included Shane Gillis. This immediately turned into a disaster when it quickly became clear that he regularly used racist slurs in his work. (He also used homophobic and sexist slurs, too.)
Gillis quickly offered a half-hearted apology in which he … didn’t actually apologize.
Less quick to respond were NBC and Saturday Night Live itself, with official word of Gillis’ fate coming five days after the story originally broke. The surprise wasn’t that he was fired, but that it took SNL so long to do it.
Gillis’ response was somewhat defiant.
The internet couldn’t let that last comment stand.
Midweek, it emerged that Gillis’ boorish comedy wasn’t a bug, but a feature, for SNL, with the show reportedly hiring him to appeal to conservative viewers, which …
… yeah, that. One former, not exactly beloved, SNL cast member popped up on Twitter to support Gillis.
Other comedians also spoke out about the decision.
But what about Gillis? What will he do now? Probably what he was doing before, but with more fame and a new slew of fans who talk about things like “cancel culture” and “the PC left.” He’ll be fine. For proof, look to the fact that he was onstage on Wednesday, joking, “I do want everyone to know that I’ve been reading every one of my death threats in an Asian accent.”
The Takeaway: There’s an obvious next step to be made here, of course.
So, About This New Saved By the Bell …
What Happened: The revival of Saved By The Bell looks to be far stranger than you might expect.
social experiment by Livio Acerbo #greengroundit #wired https://www.wired.com/story/internet-week-238