SNL Star Bowen Yang Addresses Dave Chappelle, Shane Gillis Rumors (2024)

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SNL star Bowen Yang addressed the Season 49 controversies still surrounding Dave Chappelle and ex-cast member Shane Gillis.

In a profile interview with Variety, NBC's Saturday Night Live stars Bowen Yang and Kenan Thompson covered a wide range of topics related to the recently wrapped 49th season as the long-running sketch comedy/music series inches closer to the milestone – Season 50. Two topics that grabbed headlines had to do with actor/comedian Dave Chappelle making a random on-stage appearance at the end of one episode and ex-SNL cast member Shane Gillis being asked back to host – five years after he was cut for controversial comments. Now, Yang is addressing both issues and setting the record straight regarding what's true and what was speculation regarding both matters.

Chappelle Joins SNL Cast at End of Dakota Johnson/Justin Timberlake Episode: At the end of the show, NBC cut back to SNL for everyone to take the stage for final remarks and to take a metaphorical bow. Joining the SNL cast, host Dakota Johnson, and musical guest Justin Timberlake, were a number of familiar faces who appeared in sketches that night – Jimmy Fallon and ABC's Shark Tank stars Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. But they were also joined by Dave Chappelle, who hadn't appeared that night but did take the stage to join the group for the final moments – with Yang seemingly distancing himself from Chappelle during the final segment.

Before Chappelle's SNL gig in November 2022 (Season 48 Episode 6, with musical guest Black Star), the actor/comedian was already facing backlash from the LGBTQ community over transphobic and anti-LGBTQ+ jokes he made in during his Netflix stand-up special and in interviews. At the time, reports were that some of the show's writers & cast had threatened not to be involved with his show in protest. Now, Yang is addressing the controversy – noting that he wasn't standing anywhere that he wouldn't normally stand. "I stand where I always stand on good nights. It was not a physical distance that anyone was creating. It had to do with so many things that were completely internal," Yang shared. When asked if he was bothered by Chappelle's appearance, "Yang responded, "It was about other people's responses to the show. I was just confused; that was it."

Shane Gillis: Fired in 2019 – Hosting in 2024? Yang and actor/comedian Shane Gillis had an SNL past well before the 49th season – with Gillis set to join the cast the same year that Yang did. But when recordings of racist anti-Asian comments that Gillis made during a podcast from 2018 resurfaced, SNL released a statement cutting ties with the actor/comedian. Five years later, SNL EP Lorne Michaels would welcome Gillis back to host. "I'm going to give Lorne Michaels some credit to that meta-narrative [of Michaels booking controversy]. There's a story around the show now, and it's his show. He gets to do whatever he wants," Yang shared, referencing Michaels's decision to have Gillis host. "Anytime our names are in the same sentence, at least in a journalistic way, it always feels deleterious. It feels like one person is trying to undo the other," he added. "I was just really curious about what that show would be like and if it would be an opportunity to really move past it. I think he and I have done enough things in our careers now to really not [have] that be the definitive beginning or the thing that casts a pall over everything else that we do going forward."