Yes, Kenan Thompson Took Issue with Shane Gillis' 'SNL' Monologue

Kenan Thompson has been on Saturday Night Live for 23 seasons. He has survived it all, including at least three separate eras of people declaring the show dead. So, yes: Kenan has sway.

Speaking at the Axios Media Trends Livezsummit this week, Thompson addressed the backlash over Shane Gillis’ monologue, specifically the bit where Gillis observed that women at the gym “just dress like wh***s now.”

“Yeah, I know Shane. And I don’t know him to be, you know, a mean person necessarily,” Thompson said. “But, if he were to come back [to the show], I’m sure we would have a conversation of like, ‘How do you think that went?’ Like a little kid. I would just sit him down and be like, ‘So what do you think we could change there, pal?’ And just figure it out.”

“Pal”? Not the word you use when you have a lot of affection for the host.

Thompson framed it as a balance between “allowing creative liberties” and being mindful of “harmful words,” but his bigger frustration seemed to be with who got overshadowed. “Everybody’s focusing in on this one specific word. Or one specific part of the monologue,” he said. “And then, the rest of the monologue, or even the rest of the show, is getting overshadowed. Like, Grace [Reiter], one of our newest cast members, had a phenomenal show. It’s sad, because nobody is even talking about it.” He also thought musical guest Rosalía also got buried, which is exactly what I said in our write-up. That, and the Green Eggs & Ham sketch could have been so good with anyone other than Gillis.

But that’s the real shame of it all: It’s not Gillis who faces consequences. It’s the 25-year-old featured player. Gillis, for his part, has yet to say anything at all. The guy who pissed on the floor never has to clean it up.