OF COURSE People Were Offended By Shane Gillis’ Savage Caitlin Clark Joke At The ESPYs

Casey Young·
CULTURE
·
Shane Gillis culture
ABC

Not holding back.

This evening, comedian Shane Gillis is hosting the ESPY awards show, which is taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and being broadcast live on ABC. The event celebrates the past year of sports, in addition to helping to raise money for V Foundation for Cancer Research, and Gillis is the first comedian they’ve had host the show in a while.

And he is definitely stirring up controversy over some of his not-so-politically correct jokes. He took aim at everyone from WNBA star Caitlin Clark to Aaron Rodgers to President Donald Trump and Mets star Juan Soto.

Of Aaron Rodgers and his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine, he said:

“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.”

About President Trump, he said:

“Joe Rogan actually wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver because Joe thinks he’s an alien. And Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason.”

He also worked in a jab a the whole Jeffrey Epstein situation:

“There’s supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but I guess it got deleted. It probably deleted itself, right? It probably never existed.”

But the one that’s easily getting the most attention is what Gillis said about Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, who is objectively the face of the WNBA… even though it seems like everybody in the WNBA hates her. Well, except the fans… who show up more than double to any game she’s playing.

Referring to the number of hard fouls on her, Shane said:

“When Caitlin Clark retires, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most, fist fighting black women.”

I think he knew it might ruffle some feathers, because right before telling that specific joke, he said:

“We’ll see about this one.”

So yeah, I think he was prepared to be blasted for it:

Here’s the full joke about Clark, as well as one about Sheduer Sanders:

Yeah, no one was safe in the room… his monologue came for everyone. I would think ESPN knew what they were getting with Gillis, but it seems some in the audience and watching on TV maybe weren’t as familiar with his work.

Here’s another one that’s getting some attention:

Of course, it set off a firestorm on line, with the Clark joke in particular drawing a ton of criticism on X:

Whether you thought it was funny or not, it’s pretty surprising to think ESPN approved of all of them and that they actually made it to air – and it will be interesting to see if getting a big name like Gillis helped with the ratings or they decide not to bring him back next year because of all of this.

Personally, I think Shane should host everything… every awards show, every holiday special…. hell, give him the Super Bowl.

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