Saturday Night Fired! Shane Gillis Booted From ‘SNL’ After Racist Comments

Shane Gillis' time on Saturday Night Live is over before it even began.

RadarOnline.com has learned the controversial comedian has been canned by the late-night laugher, in light of racist remarks in much of his act.

“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining ‘SNL,'” a show spokesperson on behalf of Lorne Michaels said in a statement. “We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition for SNL.

“We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”

In a statement of his own, Gillis said it was “ridiculous” for comedians to be making serious public statements, “but here we are.”

I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get on SNL. That can’t be taken away,” he shared. “Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity.”

He ended the note by seemingly taking a swing at his now-former employer.

“I was always a mad tv guy anyway.”

As RadarOnline.com reported, Gillis was slammed as a racist after a clip from Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast resurfaced. In the video, Gillis is heard saying “Chinatown’s f***ing nuts. Let the f***ing ch**ks live there.”

He then continues to insult while talking about eating at Chinese restaurants.

“The translation between you and the waiter is such a f***ing hassle, I’m pointing at it,” he says in the clip before speaking in a Chinese accent.

After the comments resurfaced, Gillis issued an apology that still seemed to defend his remarks:

“I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,” he wrote in a Twitter statement.

“I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said. My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks,” he continued in his statement.