Maren Morris answers Shane Gillis SNL gym joke with middle finger
Maren Morris answered Shane Gillis's Saturday Night Live monologue with a gym video that ended with a raised middle finger.
Gillis hosted the show on Saturday night, 10 October, and used his opening monologue to comment on how women dress at the gym. He said he did not know women "just dress like whores now" at the gym, a line that drew swift criticism online and from other performers Rolling Stone. In the same monologue he also joked about trying to lose weight by hiking, according to NBC's rundown of the night NBC.
Morris posted her response on Monday, 12 October People. The Instagram clip shows her working out, with the on-screen text "me being a wh0re at the gym." She captioned it "leave my gym short wedgie out of it." The video was set to her song "Be a Bitch" and closed with her giving the camera the middle finger.
Other public figures joined in. Actor Dan Levy said in an Instagram video that he was "speechless that something like that can exist on live national television." He added that women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores, it makes the men calling them whores misogynists. Former SNL cast member Ego Nwodim posted a gym selfie to her Instagram Stories on Monday with the caption "whore reporting for duty."
Music figures also weighed in. Flavor Flav was among those who responded to the monologue, as was Maggie Baird, the activist mother of Billie Eilish, according to Billboard's round-up of the reaction Billboard.
The monologue was not the only unscripted moment of the night. During Saturday's show, Gillis dropped an F-bomb during a Dr Seuss-themed sketch titled "Green Eggs and Ham," which featured the characters Sam I Am and The Cat in the Hat. The cold open from the episode featured Colin Jost returning as Pete Hegseth.
What makes this stand out is the history behind the booking. Gillis was fired from SNL in 2019 for racist and homophobic comments. At the time, Saturday Night Live described the comments as "offensive, hurtful and unacceptable" People. He has since been invited back to host three times, with last Saturday's appearance the latest.
