SNL alum Ego Nwodim fires back at Shane Gillis' 'misogynistic' monologue joke about women at the gym

Saturday Night Live alumna Ego Nwodim issued a riposte to the controversial joke that comic Shane Gillis made in his opening monologue last weekend.

While guest-hosting the latest episode of the NBC sketch show, Gillis, 38, remarked that female gymgoers 'just dress like w****s now.'

He added that 'you're not allowed to look' at them ''cause they are filming,' quipping: 'I’m in the background of like 10 TikToks right now.'

Nwodim, 38, who was a cast member on the show for seven seasons from 2018 to 2025, offered a tongue-in-cheek response in two Insta Stories on Monday.

The first one she posted was a mirror selfie she snapped at the gym with one arm raised, accompanied by the caption: 'w**** reporting for duty.' 

Her follow-up was a picture of what appeared to be a pulled pork eggs benedict, captioned: 'getting my 30 grams of protein in after heuxing.' 

The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Gillis for comment. 

In his monologue, Gillis mocked himself for 'going to the public gym as a fat guy' surrounded by 'the hottest gay guys you've ever seen,' before saying: 'Also, I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like w****s now.'

He continued with a smile: 'Look, I'm sorry, there's no other way to describe - have you seen it? I've seen it. The shorts? Have you seen the shorts?'

Gillis earned laughs describing the activewear as 'neon' and 'artificial bait-colored' with wrinkles that 'go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole.'

He quipped: '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.'

As a social media furor erupted over the monologue, Gillis was vociferously denounced in an Instagram video by Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy. 

'Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them w****s. It makes the men calling them w****s misogynists. There’s a difference there,' said Levy.

'By the way, I've seen more men's nipples at the gym than I've ever seen women showing their bodies off,' observed the son of SCTV icon Eugene Levy. 

'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 this, because it's complacency that has created the environment with which women are sexually assaulted and it's a "conversation" as opposed to a crime.'

Gillis made the headlines in 2019 when he was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live, only to be fired over resurfaced podcast clips of his politically incorrect comic bits, including one in which he used the ethnic slur 'ch**k.' 

Inasmuch as Gillis was hired at the same time as Bowen Yang, the first Saturday Night Live cast member of Asian descent, the jokes pulled even further focus.

Gillis issued a statement noting he is a 'comedian who pushes boundaries,' while offering 'to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said.'

He was defended by legendary Saturday Night Live veteran Norm Macdonald, who himself had been fired from the show over his OJ Simpson material.

In 1997, an NBC executive who was friends with Simpson jettisoned Macdonald for repeatedly making fun of the ex-football player over his double murder trial. 

Macdonald tweeted his sympathies to Gillis, writing that the younger comic's firing was 'Unacceptable' and telling him: 'Please DM me, pal, when you have a moment.' 

In the ensuing years, Gillis rose back to showbiz success, and by 2023 he released a stand-up special that made the Netflix Top 10 in five countries. 

Nwodim left Saturday Night Live last year after the 50th season, amid a cast exodus that included Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim.

Yang sensationally quit the long-running series in the middle of the 51st season, while Chloe Fineman left after that season concluded.