Jenna Bush Hager has become the latest public figure to condemn Shane Gillis’ “Saturday Night Live” monologue.
The “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle” co-host, 44, called out the comedian on Tuesday’s broadcast after he joked about women wearing revealing workout clothes to the gym. Bush Hager directed her criticism at Gillis, 38, for his choice of language and the broader cultural pattern it represented.
“Who is he to comment on women’s bodies?” she asked her co-host Sheinelle Jones during the segment.
“This perpetuates what is happening in our culture where people are commenting on women’s looks ad nauseam … and it’s not OK,” Bush Hager continued. She framed the issue partly through a parental lens, urging a broader shift in public discourse. “If we want to be good role models for our children, stop talking about the way women look, period,” she added.
The journalist also brought her marriage into the discussion. She said she would “be disgusted” if her husband, Henry Chase, “talked like that about someone,” which “he wouldn’t.”
Jones, 48, offered her own perspective, noting that she typically takes a more forgiving stance toward comedians. “I usually am more lenient with comedians,” she said. But Gillis’ specific word choice crossed a line for her. “The word ‘whore'” challenged her tolerance, she explained.
Jones said she understood the clothing Gillis was mocking. “I know exactly what shorts he’s talking about,” she shared, adding that her friends encourage her to wear similar styles. She found the terminology itself particularly damaging. “I think when you say the word ‘whores,’ I think it feels almost derogatory … it feels mean,” she said.
She drew a direct comparison to male behavior at fitness centers. “Guys walk around without shirts on at the gym all the time, and they are proud of their bodies, so if the guy can be proud of his body, let the girl be proud of her body,” Jones said.
The backlash against Gillis began after he delivered his “SNL” monologue over the weekend. “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t realize women just dressed like whores now,” he told the studio audience. He described their shorts as “wrinkles [that] go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole,” He added a warning with a laugh: “And don’t look, you’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look because they are filming. I’m in the background of about 10 TikToks right now.”
The remarks drew criticism from multiple entertainers. “Schitt’s Creek” star Dan Levy posted an Instagram video to push back. “Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores,” he said. “It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there.”
“SNL” alum Ego Nwodim responded through her Instagram Stories with pointed sarcasm, referring to herself as a “whore reporting for duty” while dressed in workout clothes.
The monologue did find some defenders in prominent figures. NFL star Travis Kelce “liked” the performance on Instagram, and radio personality Bobby Bones called it “pretty funny.”
Gillis’ return to “SNL” as host marked a notable booking given his history with the show. He was briefly hired as a cast member in 2019 before old podcast clips surfaced in which he used racist slurs, leading to his dismissal before he ever appeared on air. He has since built a significant following through stand-up specials and his podcast “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast,” cultivating an audience that embraces his deliberately provocative style.
The gym attire bit formed the centerpiece of his opening monologue during the broadcast, which came during the show’s fifty-second season.
Gillis is scheduled to continue his stand-up tour with upcoming performances across the Midwest and South.