Gillis, a standup comedian and the co-creator and star of Netflix’s Tires, is probably best known for lasting like four hours at Saturday Night Live — Lorne Michaels felt compelled to fire Gillis after some non-PC clips of a 2018 episode of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast were resurfaced — though he has gone on to host the show, twice.

Shane Gillis made it clear that he had nothing to do with the DeShaun Watson massage joke at the 2025 ESPYs. While hosting the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 16, Gillis, 37, initially said he wanted to “skip that joke” about Watson,

In a post shared early Thursday on X, the former ESPN reporter called out the Worldwide Leader for bringing the comedian into the fold as emcee, who took shots at Megan Rapinoe, Caitlin Clark and the WNBA during his divisive outing.

During his opening monologue, Gillis nodded to the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, who couldn’t make the ceremony owing to her travel schedule with the team. After noting he and Clark had both “nailed a bunch of threes,

Gillis made several jokes about President Donald Trump. He said he doesn’t know sports and told a story of meeting him at the Super Bowl. But for Birds fans, the best moments came when Gillis took a shot at their most hated rival.