Report: SNL Hired the Recently Fired Racist Comedian to Appeal to Conservatives

The controversy behind Shane Gillis, the comedian hired and then subsequently fired comedian has made the rounds around the internet, but in case you missed it, my colleague Alex Parker detailed how Gillis lost his job thanks to cancel culture once it was revealed he had said “racist” things during a podcast.

(READ: Norm Macdonald Responds To New Comedian Shane Gillis’s ‘SNL’ Firing: ‘This Means WAR’)

Now, according to an article in Variety, the claim has been made that Gillis was hired on in the first place in order to appeal to conservatives which had largely abandoned SNL thanks to its hard-left leaning stance:

According to sources, the long-running NBC comedy show and series mastermind Lorne Michaels were actively looking to cast a comedian for its new season who would appeal to more conservative viewers. This was meant to counteract the appearance of a liberal bias on the show, given that it has seen a major resurgence in popularity in recent years with Alec Baldwin regularly portraying President Donald Trump while other cast members and guest stars have played members of his administration and those in his orbit.

It should be noted that Variety does not list who these “sources” are and, as such, this story may be a false rumor altogether. However, given that a poll in March found that 61 percent of Americans don’t watch SNL, it’s probably true that Michaels is looking to attract more viewers.

Given the left’s view of the right, it wouldn’t be too far out of the realm of possibility to assume that they believe bringing someone on who has made racist remarks in the past would make right-wingers come back. Whether or not Gillis’s words were actually racist, or an observation about racist people can be made, but the point is that SNL brass thought it racist, and looked to appeal to conservatives by bringing someone on who would use this kind of edgy language.

If the story is true and that is the case, then the left has no idea what a typical conservative believes or values.

Interestingly enough, edgy humor seems to be fine with the left so long as it appeals to the left. Any slip-ups can easily be forgiven if they vote the right way. Sarah Silverman can do blackface and still have a career. While she did lose a role in a film over it, she continues to get work.

Amy Schumer also told a racist joke about how Hispanic men are rapists and yet, continues to enjoy a steady stream of success.

Perhaps Gillis will recover from this and get work, however, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

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