Who is Shane Gillis? 2025 ESPYs host draws mixed reactions with jokes on Trump, Epstein, and more

Comedian and actor Shane Gillis's 2025 ESPY Awards monologue is drawing mixed reactions online. The award show took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on July 16.

Gillis has been performing for more than a decade now, starting in 2012. In 2019, after moving to New York to focus on comedy, Shane Gillis was named an "Up Next" comedian by Comedy Central and a "New Face" at the Just for Laughs festival, adding to his recognition. Gillis was also named a new cast member for season 45 of Saturday Night Live in September 2019.

However, after a few days, he was removed from the show when an old podcast clip of him using an anti-Asian slur went viral.

In a statement from SNL, a spokesperson said:

"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."

With over 2.3 million Instagram followers, Shane has made a name for himself in comedy. He has a Netflix special called Beautiful Dogs and has also appeared in the series Tires and comedy show Kill Tony.

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What jokes did Shane Gillis make at the ESPY Awards?

During his monologue, Shane Gillis made jokes about many well-known personalities, including President Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Caitlin Clark, which has gained attention online. Talking about Trump, he said:

"Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The last time he staged a fight in D.C., Mike Pence almost died."

He then referenced Jeffrey Epstein, joking:

"Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but I guess it got deleted. Must have probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed. Actually. Let's move on as a country and ignore that."

In another joke, mentioning American basketball player Caitlin Clark, he said:

"It’s been a big year for the WNBA, I love Caitlin Clark. She and I have a lot in common. We’re both whites from the Midwest who have nailed a bunch of threes."

He added:

"When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most, fist fighting black women"

While the audience was already reacting mixedly to the jokes about Caitlin Clark and Trump, Gillis took another jab, however, this time at Aaron Rodgers.

"Aaron Rodgers did not take the vaccine because he predicted that it would be bad for him and then he joined the New York Jets. So maybe he wasn’t right about everything"

A few of his jokes mentioned Bill Belichick and his girlfriend. He also joked about Joe Rogan thinking Adam Silver is an alien and Trump wanting to capture Juan Soto.

Users on social media are having mixed reactions to his monologue.

One user on X wrote:

"Funny yes, but you keep writing the worst last sentences in the biz. I didn't see where he went crazy. 🙄"

Another user wrote:

"The mark of a great comedian is their ability to enter a packed room full of rich, entitled people and then proceed to make fun of them for the entire monologue and not give a single F if anyone in the room is offended, that’s exactly what Shane Gillis did at the ESPY Awards"

One more user added:

"Literally don’t even know who Shane Gillis is. ESPN is awful now which is a shame. Zero desire to watch anything on ESPN other than my local sports teams which are rarely covered given today’s streaming rights."

Another user posted:

"If you were offended by Shane Gillis ESPY’s monologue I can assure you that no one likes to hang around you."

Social media remains divided over his performance, with some praising his humor while others called his jokes offensive.

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