SNL UK lampoons Shane Gillis after his on-air profanity and controversial gym-short comments

Saturday Night Live UK aired a segment on Oct. 17 in which co-anchor Ania Magliano delivered an uncensored four-word insult aimed at comedian Shane Gillis, drawing cheers from the studio audience. The exchange followed Gillis’s Oct. 10 monologue on NBC, where he referred to women wearing revealing gym shorts as "whores," a comment that sparked criticism.

Magliano introduced the bit with a story about a Munich Oktoberfest ride operator providing female passengers with cycling shorts to prevent upskirting, then displayed a photo of Gillis delivering his monologue. She then said, "Oh Shane, you're not allowed to say that, you stupid fucking cunt," a line that aired without a bleep on Sky One.

The profanity occurred during a sketch parodying Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, in which Gillis played the protective son of Mikey Day’s Lorax. Gillis later apologized for the slip during the show's closing segment, but did not address the earlier comments about women.

The British edition of SNL, produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television Alternative Studio’s U.K. team with Lorne Michaels as executive producer, airs after the UK watershed at 10 p.m. Ofcom regulations prohibit strong language before 9 p.m. and require that potentially offensive material be justified by context, including the program’s nature and audience warnings.

Reactions to Gillis’s remarks included criticism from former SNL cast members and other entertainers. Dan Levy described the gym-short jokes as misogynistic in an Instagram video, while former cast member Ego Nwodim posted a photo captioned "Whore reporting for duty." Cecily Strong also shared a gym-related post mocking the premise, and Martha Plimpton called for greater female involvement in the show’s decision-making.

SNL co-anchor Michael Che, when asked about the controversy, said, "That's comedy. It's like, you think it's funny and some people don't," and noted he had not watched Gillis’s monologue live. James Austin Johnson appeared in the British episode’s opening sketch, delivering a Donald Trump impression that highlighted the differing standards for profanity on the UK version of the show.