Shane Gillis sparks controversy on SNL with Star Wars liberal joke and Bill Cosby remark

Shane Gillis hosted SNL, joking about liberals as Star Wars villains and referencing Bill Cosby.

Comedian Shane Gillis returned to host Saturday Night Live (SNL) on March 1, marking his second time leading the show. The episode opened with James Austin Johnson portraying former U.S. President Donald Trump in a cold open depicting a fictional meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Following the sketch, Gillis took the stage for his monologue, launching into political humor before shifting to cultural commentary. After making light of both Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden, he compared liberals to the Sith, the dark-side villains in Star Wars. “You guys are pretty liberal here. Look, I understand being liberal, dude, it feels good. It’s powerful. It’s too powerful, dude. It’s like the Sith. You, like, lose yourself,” he joked. The audience responded with a mix of laughter and hesitation, but Gillis pushed forward with more provocative jokes.

At one point, he joked about white men awkwardly questioning their girlfriends about past partners, referencing a scenario involving Tinder. Later, he spoke about his love for historical documentaries, mentioning Ken Burns’ Civil War and its notoriously long runtime. “It’s 900 hours long. No one on Earth has ever finished it,” he said, before adding, “It’s kryptonite to women. If you put that on, they will fall asleep immediately. That’s a little Cosby tip for you, actually.” The remark, an apparent reference to Bill Cosby—whose 2018 conviction for sexual assault was overturned in 2021—drew mixed reactions.

Gillis’ return to SNL comes five years after he was hired and quickly fired in 2019 due to resurfaced racist, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks. His latest monologue has reignited debates over the boundaries of comedy, with some defending his style while others criticized the jokes as tone-deaf and inappropriate.