Shane Gillis joked about women's gym shorts. Women are turning the insult around.

Shane Gillis opened his Saturday Night Live monologue by announcing he's going back to the gym because he needs to lose weight. But the self-deprecation quickly turned outward.

"I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dress like whores now," Gillis said during his Oct. 10 appearance on the show as host. "Look, I'm sorry, there's no other way to describe it," he continued, describing women's brightly colored, tight-fitting workout shorts as "artificial bait."

"And don't look, you're not allowed to look," he added, joking that he was likely captured gawking in the background of their TikToks.

In another bit, the 38-year-old described an encounter with a "beautiful woman" while hiking and his attempt to appear nonthreatening as they approached each other on an otherwise empty trail. "I gotta figure out what face to make to let her know that I'm not here to…" Gillis said, trailing off. "Which is a tough face to make, I don't know if you've ever made that face."

The comments quickly drew backlash on social media. Actor Dan Levy was among those who criticized Gillis and argued that degrading women for wearing shorts to the gym was misogynistic. Levy also urged more men to speak up when women are objectified.

But it's not just word choice, according to content creator Brenna Perez . In an Instagram video , she highlighted the contradiction between Gillis's hiking story and his comments about women at the gym. In one scenario, the comedian appeared to understand why a woman might be uncomfortable around an unfamiliar man, she said. In the next, he suggested that women's choice of workout apparel was inviting men's attention.

The latter, she said, reinforces a familiar attitude used to blame women for unwanted sexual attention: that their clothing means they were somehow asking for it.

"People are not being overly sensitive or unfunny by pointing out that this is very much a part of the problem," said Perez.

Some women are also responding on TikTok, posting videos of themselves working out in the very shorts Gillis took issue with. "Just a girl in her wh*re shorts at the gym," wrote Maggie B . "Yeah Shane Gillis, I wear shorts to the gym. Don't look or you might see a baddie lifting heavier than you!" wrote another creator, who goes by Singlemamadrama, over a clip of herself lifting. Anyeé, who says she's a wellness bodybuilder, shared a message for Gillis on TikTok. "Let me be clear: my outfit isn't for you, your comfort or your monologue. I train hard, I lift heavy and I'll wear whatever I want while doing it," she wrote in the caption of a video of herself doing pull-ups.

Paige Connell , a motherhood advocate and cohost of Just Us Girls podcast, pointed out what she saw as a double standard : Men wear short shorts and barely there tank tops to work out. So why is women's clothing being treated as an invitation for sexual attention?

There's also the issue of timing. Gillis's monologue aired as a sexual assault case involving seven members of a Cornell fraternity has dominated headlines and prompted a national conversation over sexual violence. A lawsuit filed by a former student, identified as Jane Doe, alleges that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple men at a fraternity house in 2024.

The case has raised questions about male accountability and the language men use while discussing women. Gillis's choice of words bears a resemblance to something Jane Doe herself said about the alleged assault during a 2025 disciplinary hearing: "I felt like bait."

Feminist writer Jessica Valenti drew a connection between the monologue and the Cornell allegations in an Instagram video , arguing that Gillis's remarks shouldn't be dismissed as simply a poorly timed joke.

"Shane Gillis knows that there is a major national conversation happening right now about sexual assault. He is very well aware of that fact. He is very well aware that tens of thousands of women — hundreds of thousands, maybe more — are sharing their stories of being raped, are talking about how painful it was when the good men in their life didn't do anything or blamed them," said Valenti. "When you demean and denigrate and dehumanize women and say that they're not real human beings, they're just whores, their clothes are bait. What do you think rape culture is?"

She also criticized SNL for giving the material a national platform. (NBC representatives for the show didn't immediately respond to Yahoo's request for comment.)

Of course, provocative comedy is hardly new territory for Gillis.

The comedian was famously dropped from the SNL cast in 2019 , just days after being hired, when past racist and homophobic remarks resurfaced. Still, he went on to have a successful career in stand-up, podcasting and television. His popularity has endured despite criticism of his material, with fans embracing his willingness to push boundaries.

In 2024, he was invited to host the very show that fired him years prior, with Saturday marking his third time returning to the SNL stage.

Gillis hasn't publicly addressed the criticism of his monologue, but he did offer an apology during the live show for accidentally dropping the F-bomb during a sketch. The word is subject to FCC broadcast restrictions. "Whore" isn't.