Dan Levy demands men speak up after Shane Gillis demeans women on SNL

Comedian Shane Gillis said “f*ck” during a sketch on live network television and referenced Joe Rogan on Saturday. It may have been the least offensive thing he said all night.

The comedian’s latest turn hosting Saturday Night Live included an opening monologue disparaging women’s workout clothes and a closing joke presenting gay men and Adolf Hitler as the country’s competing options. By Sunday, Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy, who is gay, was calling on men to challenge the misogyny given a national platform.

“Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists,” Levy said in an Instagram video Sunday night.

Levy also challenged the double standard underlying Gillis’ routine, observing that men routinely expose their bodies at the gym. He said he had seen more men’s nipples there than women displaying their bodies. "Men need to be defending women more,” Levy said. “This is not a women’s issue; this is an everybody issue.”

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Gillis, hosting the October 10 episode, turned a discussion of exercise into commentary on women’s bodies.

“I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now,” he said. He continued by mocking their shorts and complaining that men shouldn’t stare.

He closed with his receding hairline, which he said made him look like Hitler. He suggested that brushing his hair to the side would make him look gay, then expanded the premise into a joke about national polarization.

“You’re either gay or you’re Hitler, and isn’t that where we’re at as a country?” Gillis said.

Later, during a sketch inspired by Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, Gillis uttered “f*ck” on the live broadcast. He subsequently apologized for the slip. The profanity generated its own headlines, but Levy’s criticism focused on the monologue’s substance.

Levy argued that men’s tolerance of misogyny helps create an environment in which sexual assault becomes a matter for debate rather than being treated as a crime. His appeal put responsibility on men to confront that culture themselves.

The backlash comes amid national scrutiny of the “Cornell 7” case, in which a former Cornell University student named seven fraternity members in a civil lawsuit. The woman, identified as Jane Doe, alleges she was given drugs and sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. The defendants have denied wrongdoing.

Filed in September, the lawsuit renewed questions about how Cornell handled her report and how local authorities responded. University disciplinary proceedings resulted in punishments including expulsions and suspensions, but the initial criminal investigation produced no charges.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor on October 1. That decision followed scrutiny of evidence from Doe’s interview with campus police, including a fuller account than the statement initially provided to prosecutors. No criminal charges had been filed.

Some viewers explicitly invoked Cornell in responding to Levy’s post, questioning the decision to air Gillis’ material during the unfolding discussion about sexual violence and accountability.

Gillis’ appearance also revived the history behind his relationship with SNL. The show hired him in 2019, then fired him before his debut after podcast recordings containing racist and homophobic remarks resurfaced. Saturday marked his third return as host.

Levy’s response focused on what men allow to pass unchallenged.

“I’m speechless that something like that can exist on live national television,” he said.