Dan Levy Criticises Shane Gillis Over SNL Gym Joke

Dan Levy has criticised Shane Gillis over a joke about women at the gym in his Saturday Night Live opening monologue. Gillis hosted the 10 October episode. Levy responded in an Instagram post on Sunday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the monologue, Gillis said he had not been to the gym in so long that he did not know women "just dress like whores now." He described neon shorts with wrinkles combining at the back. He joked that he had ended up in the background of 10 TikToks while trying to work out.

Levy rejected that framing directly. He said women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists.

He added that he had seen more men's nipples at the gym than women showing off their bodies. His point was short. Gym clothes are gym clothes.

Levy also said he was speechless that material like that could go out on live national television. He said men need to be defending women more. He described this as not a women's issue but an everybody issue.

The appearance was built around Gillis's stand-up and sketches, with a seven-minute opening monologue, according to NBC Insider. It was his third turn as host since his brief hiring as a cast member in 2019, when he was let go before the season began over resurfaced podcast comments, according to Variety. He had previously hosted in 2024 and 2025.

Gillis also swore accidentally during a sketch in the 10 October show. He apologised for the slip during the broadcast.

Gillis stars in the Netflix comedy Tires. Levy is the co-creator and star of Schitt's Creek.