Inde Navarrette used her “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut to take a pointed shot at Shane Gillis, turning his controversial gym joke into a punchline on Halloween night. Navarrette, the “Obsession” star who joined Marvel’s first “X-Men” film as Rogue this summer, joked in her opening monologue about the workouts that superhero casting demands. “Every morning, I put on my little whore outfit and I hit the gym,” she said, borrowing the language of Gillis’s monologue three weeks earlier.
Gillis hosted the Oct. 10 episode, his third turn as host. In his opening, he told the audience he had been away from the gym so long that he did not realize women now dress like “whores,” then mocked the idea of looking at them. The bit sparked an immediate backlash online, which critics labeled sexist.
Dan Levy, the “Schitt’s Creek” creator, posted an Instagram video condemning the joke and faulting the show for giving it a platform. Women in short shorts at the gym are not whores, Levy said. In his telling, the men who call them that are misogynists. “SNL UK” piled on a week later, when “Weekend Update” co-anchor Ania Magliano ripped into Gillis with an expletive on the Oct. 17 broadcast.
The comedian has defenders. Commentator Ben Shapiro called the reaction hysterical and argued that critics overreacted to a stand-up bit. Gillis also stumbled that night in a “Green Eggs and Ham” sketch, when he accidentally swore live on air, broke character and doubled over laughing. Neither Gillis nor NBC has publicly responded to Navarrette’s joke in the coverage reviewed.
Navarrette’s episode marked the show’s return after a break, with Gracie Abrams as musical guest. Tom Hanks also returned as the hapless scare worker David S. Pumpkins, a character he introduced years ago. Navarrette has told reporters she felt she “snuck in” to the hosting slot, a modest framing for an actress whose year has otherwise turned into a breakout.
