Where Shane Gillis goes, controversy seems to follow.
The comedian served as a Saturday Night Live cast member for just four days in 2019 before he was fired for past racist and homophobic comments. Now, days ahead of his return to the show — this time as host — he’s being accused of using his popular podcast to promote a pair of conspiracy theorists who are said to believe, among other things, that the Sandy Hook massacre never happened, and that Israel knew about and may have orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.
As reported this morning in The Daily Beast, Bill McCusker and Andrew Pacella have appeared nearly 20 times on Gillis’ podcast, which is currently Patreon’s top-ranked podcast with more than 80,000 paid subscribers. Those appearances have helped the duo grow an audience for their own podcast, where they’ve espoused the work of prominent Holocaust deniers and other antisemitic conspiracy theorists.
The Daily Beast report was written by comedy critic Seth Simons, who also unearthed the 2018 comments that led to Gillis’s firing. His latest article details several instances where McCusker and Pacella have suggested that the holocaust didn’t happen, both on and off Gillis’ podcast.
Simons also lists a number of recent instances where Gillis himself has made antisemitic remarks, including referring to someone as “k–-faced” and laughing about “retarded Jews” at baseball games.
NBC has yet to comment on The Daily Beast report.
Shane Gillis hosts SNL this Saturday with musical guest 21 Savage.
