Shane Gillis apologised after dropping the F-bomb during a live Saturday Night Live sketch, briefly breaking character before returning to the performance.
Gillis was hosting the programme when he played the son of Cat in the Hat, portrayed by Mikey Day. During the sketch, Andrew Dismukes’s character, Sam I Am, tried to persuade Gillis’s father to eat green eggs and ham.
Defending his fictional father, Gillis said: “Hey, what the hell is wrong with you? My dad said he doesn’t like them.” When Dismukes continued to press him, Gillis replied: “Bro, it’s a non-starter. He said he doesn’t f***ing … Jeez — like ’em.”
He appeared to realise immediately that he had sworn during the live broadcast, waving to the audience before carrying on with the sketch.
Day later returned to the incident in character, calling Gillis a loser and criticising him for using a “bad word” before ordering him out of the house.
The programme’s censors did not cut the swear word out in time. A clip later shared on social media by Saturday Night Live staff removed it.
During the closing goodnights, Gillis addressed the incident directly. He said: “My thanks to Rosalia, and, uh, sorry about earlier. Thank you guys very much. I had a good time.”
Gillis was dismissed as a Saturday Night Live cast member in 2019, days after being hired, when clips from an old podcast emerged showing him making anti-Asian slurs.
He has since hosted the show three times, with the latest on-air mistake appearing to have been put behind him by the end of the programme.
