BIG MAD

Michael Che Fires Back at Fury Over His Shane Gillis Defense

The “Weekend Update” anchor’s reaction to the MAGA-friendly “SNL” host has been all over the place.

Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che has harsh words for those who think he should have said more about Shane Gillis’ joke about women’s gym clothes.

Gillis, 38, has been receiving major blowback after hosting SNL for the third time on Saturday and saying in his opening monologue, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long I didn’t know women just dress like wh---s now?”

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Che, 43, was asked point blank whether he found it funny during an appearance on Today.

“That’s comedy. It’s like, you think it’s funny, and then some people don’t,” he said, prompting outcry from fans.

The “Weekend Update” host posted a screengrab of an exchange with one fan who wrote, “Such a p---y for staying ‘neutral.’ Stand up for women, you piece of s--t.”

Che flipped the script in his response, writing, “I think your use of the word p---y as a derogatory word is disrespectful and problematic, and I’m not going to stand for it, you sexist f---ing pig! How’s that?”

The angry comments for Che came after celebrities, including Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy and Grammy winner Maren Morris, as well as SNL alums Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong, criticized Gillis’ remarks about how women dress at the gym.

After saying “women dress like w--res,” Gillis added, “Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. The shorts. Have you seen the shorts? Those neon, they’re like artificial bait-colored. And the wrinkles go around the cheeks, and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look; you’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look because they are filming. I’m in the background of like 10 TikToks right now.”

As the blowback threatened to eclipse publicity for Che’s new Netflix special, Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota, Che joked on Instagram on Tuesday, “Gotta do more press this week to promote the special...wonder what every f---ing questions gonna be about 🙄.. thanks a lot shane.”

He then sidestepped a question about whether he laughed when he heard MAGA-friendly host Shane Gillis’ controversial monologue during his Today appearance.

“I was at cue cards, actually, thinking about what I was going to say that was going to make people upset,” Che joked to Laura Jarrett. “So I didn’t even see it until, like, the next day.”

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He later joked in a series of slides posted on Instagram, “Folks, I just want to make one thing abundantly clear. I did NOT laugh.”

He added, “please. stop saying i hate women. i only hate like 6 of them. (and THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID!) the other 4,049,999,996 is alright with me!”

Che was a little more thoughtful with a fan who asked why he faced Kanye West head-on and not Gillis. Che was caught on camera confronting West after the rapper swiped the show’s Black comedians for SNL’s jokes about Bill Cosby, in a rant on stage that never made it to air.

The fan wrote in the exchange, which Che posted on his Instagram story, “When Kanye said something inappropriate that some people thought was funny, and you had no problem calling him out? If Shane talked derogatory s--t on you or your family but it was comedy, you’d let it slide?”

Che insisted that was different. “That’s a fair question...I had no idea he was filming. Point being, when I have a problem with someone, I address them in person. Not through media. I’m not gonna drag someone on the Today show when I can just text them.”

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Eboni Boykin-PattersonEntertainment Reporter

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