Shane Gillis Struggles for Laughs in 2025 ESPYS Monologue as He Mocks Simone Biles, Jordon Hudson

NEED TO KNOW

• Shane Gillis hosted the ESPYS on July 16

• The 37-year old comedian poked fun at Simone Biles, Caitlin Clark, and Bill Belichick

• Gillis implored the crowd to "lighten up" as he appeared to struggle through a largely silent response

Shane Gillis struggled through his 2025 ESPYS monologue while making a handful of racially charged, and at times demeaning jokes about several athletes looking on at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The controversial comedian, 37, who hosted Saturday Night Live in March, took to the stage on Wednesday, July 16 for a bold monologue, joking about various sports stars like Caitlin Clark, Shohei Ohtani, Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe.

Gillis earned the most laughs while poking fun at Jordon Hudson and Bill Belichick, who also received their share of roasts earlier this year at the NFL Honors ceremony hosted by Snoop Dogg.

“A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime,” Gillis said before saying the name of one fictitious book, "The Little Engine Who Could But Needed a Pill First.”

But largely, Gillis' performance appeared to fall flat. At one point, several crowd members booed from the mezzanine as Gillis asked the audience to "lighten up." At another point, the comedian defended a joke that didn't land by saying, "I didn’t write it."

Gillis also spent several minutes impersonating Donald Trump, and also gave a nod to the Jeffrey Epstein files while joking with the audience that his jokes could have been more R-rated if not for Disney, ESPN's parent company.

“Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here but it must’ve been deleted. Actually, it probably deleted itself,” Gillis said.

On social media, some users called Gillis' jokes racist, and questioned his role hosting the annual sports award ceremony. At the end of his monologue, the Pennsylvania comedian recognized that he likely didn't make many friends in the room with his opening speech.

"Well, I see a lot of you don't like me and that's okay," Gillis concluded before handing the show off for its first award presentation. "That went about as exactly how we all thought it was gonna go, I don't know why this happened."

ESPN announced Gillis would host the 33rd ESPYS on June 24.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on June 24, Gillis — a huge Philadelphia Eagles and Notre Dame football fan — said “I’m excited to be at The ESPYS this year, I like sports, so this should be a good time.”

The hosting gig comes during a year of brushing shoulders with sports stars for Gillis. In February, he made an appearance in a Bud Light Super Bowl commercial with five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning.

About the selection of Gillis as a host, Craig Lazarus, the executive producer of The ESPYS, told The Hollywood Reporter that Gillis' known sports fandom made him "an easy choice to host the ESPYS."

The ESPY Awards are airing live on ABC.

Read the original article on People