Dan Levy Slams Shane Gillis’ ‘SNL’ Joke About Women at the Gym: “Speechless That Can Exist”

A joke from Shane Gillis‘ Saturday Night Live monologue is drawing fire from Schitt’s Creek co-creator and star Dan Levy.

Gillis — the popular stand-up comedian who also stars in Netflix’s Tires — hosted SNL and delivered this joke during his opening set (watch it below): “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now. Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe [it]. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. The shorts? Have you seen the shorts? They’re neon, like, artificial bait-colored? And the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. 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 like 10 Tiktoks right now.”

In response, Levy posted the following on Instagram on Sunday: “Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there. By the way, I’ve seen more men’s nipples at the gym than I’ve ever seen women showing their bodies off.”

Continued the Canadian actor: “But I’m speechless that something like that can exist on live national television. And to be perfectly honest, more men need to be standing up in opposition to it because it’s complacency that has created the environment in which women are sexually assaulted and it’s a ‘conversation’ as opposed to a ‘crime.'”

“Men need to be defending women more. This is not a women’s issue, this is an everybody issue. Because the more that men objectify women in the media, the more that other men see them as objects and treat them as objects. They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men, OK? And I’m sorry if this gets me in trouble with the internet, but fuck.”

Gillis also drew some criticism for unintentionally saying the f-word during a sketch on SNL amd Gillis subsequently apologized.

The stand-up has a long and unique history with the NBC series, having been hired as a cast member in 2019 then quickly fired before he could start the season due to resurfaced comments he made on podcasts. Gillis’ stand-up career then took off, and he hosted the series in 2024 and 2025.