The "Saturday Night Live" is filmed at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. /VCG Photo
The hit U.S. comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) has fired its new cast member Shane Gillis, who made racial slurs against Chinese people on a podcast and in a deleted YouTube video, a SNL spokesman announced in a statement on Monday.
"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," reads the statement.
The 31-year-old comic, who was among the three newly hired cast members featured in the new season of the flagship NBC show, has been under fire since the footage and the podcast clips were resurfaced online by Seth Simons, a journalist who often writes about comedy.
Screenshots show Seth Simons's posts on Twitter.
In a podcast called "Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast," Gillis mocked Chinese accents and made racist comments while discussing Chinese restaurants and Chinatown, which he called "nice racism."
"Chinatown's f--king nuts," he says in a segment of the video shared on Simon's twitter account. "Let the f--king ch---s live there."
He was also found to have a history of making homophobic and sexist language. A social-fueled outcry erupted around the comic and the show online.
"We want SNL 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 SNL," said the show's spokesman.
Screenshots show Shane Gillis' posts on Twitter.
In the statement, the SNL said that they "were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days," describing his language "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," reads the statement.
Gillis wrote on Twitter that he respected the decision, saying that "I'm a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can't be taken away."
Anchor Colin Jost (L) and anchor Michael Che during Weekend Update, a news segment on "Saturday Night Live," in Studio 8H on December 15, 2018. /VCG Photo
In a statement posted earlier, he called himself "a comedian who pushes boundaries," trying to explain his remarks: "I sometimes miss."
"I'm happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said. My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks," he concluded.
Originally featured in the SNL season 45 along with Gillis are Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, who makes history as the first ever Asian cast member on the long-running series.