Longtime "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kenan Thompson said he would sit Shane Gillis down "like a little kid" to discuss the comedian's controversial joke about women's gym attire during his recent hosting stint, which drew criticism from fellow entertainers earlier this month.Speaking at the Axios Media Trends Live summit on Tuesday, Thompson addressed the criticism of Gillis and discussed how he would handle the comedian's potential return to host the show for a fourth time."If he were to come back, I'm sure we would have a conversation of like, ‘How do you think that went?’ You know what I mean? And what do you think you could have done? Like a little kid, you know? Like I would just sit him down and be like, ‘Yeah, so what do you think we could change there, pal?’ And just figure it out," Thompson said.BROADCAST BIAS: FEMINIST FREAKOUT OVER SHANE GILLIS COMMENT IS THE REAL JOKEComedian Shane Gillis delivered the opening monologue while hosting NBC’s "Saturday Night Live" on Oct.10, 2026.
(Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)Thompson, who is now in his 24th season of the show, stopped short of condemning the routine, but suggested performers must strike a balance between taking "creative liberties" in comedy and avoiding "harmful words.""I guess it's just finding the balance of both things, like allowing creative liberties, but also kind of like watching your step as far as harmful words are concerned," Thompson said."Because I think everybody's focusing in on this one specific word or one specific part of the monologue, and then the rest of the monologue, or even the rest of the show, is getting overshadowed."SWIFTIES CLAIM TRAVIS KELCE DID THE UNSPEAKABLE BY LIKING SHANE GILLIS' 'SNL' MONOLOGUE & THEY'RE NOT HAPPYThompson also said the decision to invite Gillis back was not up to him, but he suggested the two would need to talk if the comedian returned."But if he were to come back, then yeah, I think we would have to have some sort of like, a rea...