Saturday Night Live‘s New Cast Members Include These Viral Internet Comedians

Shane Gillis will no longer be joining the cast of Saturday Night Live after his history of racist and homophobic remarks was uncovered by journalist Seth Simons and Vulture.

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," a spokesperson said in a statement to the New York Times. “We want ‘S.N.L.’ 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 ‘S.N.L.’ 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. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”

Gillis responded on his own social media, claiming he was always "a Mad TV guy anway."

Saturday Night Live will kick off its 45th season with dream hosts like Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kristen Stewart plus musical guests like Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, but the newly-announced cast members prove the show isn't finished giving the public what they want. Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, and Shane Gillis will be featured players on the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live, and you've already seen two of them all over Twitter and Instagram.

Bowen Yang is a historic addition to the cast, joining the very short list of Asian comedians who have been cast over the show's near half-century run. He was also a writer last season. The show's other Asian cast members include Nasim Pedrad (2009 to 2014), who was born in Iran; Fred Armisen (2002-2013), who is a quarter Korean; and, Rob Schneider (1990-1994) who is a quarter Filipino, according to the New York Times. He is also one of the few openly gay cast members to take the 30 Rock stage.

This culminated in Yang appearing with Oh on screen during her SNL hosting gig last season, in which he played Kim Jong-un and Oh played his translator.

Bowen's claim to fame, aside from his podcast Las Culturistas which he hosts with fellow comedian Matt Rogers and, of course, his appearances on Refinery29's After After Party, are his lip-sync impersonations. One of his most viral lip syncs belongs to Sandra Oh's Grey's Anatomy monologue.

Meanwhile, Fineman found her comedic success over on Instagram. Her page is a treasure trove of original and celebrity impressions, landing her roles on Mozart in the Jungle, Search Party, and the upcoming High Fidelity. No doubt we will see her Marianne Williamson impression, which racked up over 83,000 views on Instagram, this fall.

Shane Gillis, the final newbie, was a "new face" at the 2019 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal earlier this year (Fineman was also a "new face" the year prior), and performed at Comedy Central's 2019 Clusterfest in San Francisco.

Saturday Night Live returns for its 45th season on September 28.