Gillis was hired as a featured player in 2019 and fired days later after videos resurfaced of him making racial slurs on his podcast

Asked if he’s more concerned about being politically correct now than when the show started in 1975, Michaels reflected on The Shane Gillis Incident as an example. “We had a bad time when I added Shane Gillis to the cast [in 2019].

"When he came back to the show last year [to host], we saw, 'Oh right, he’s really talented, and he would’ve been really good for us.'"