‘Saturday Night Live’ Just Put Its Biggest Problem on the Wrong Person

Published Nov 2, 2026, 2:02 PM EST Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a New York–based journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, where she is an Associate Editor, and The U.S. Sun, where she previously served as a Senior Consumer Reporter. She specializes in network television coverage, delivering sharp, thoughtful analysis of long-running procedural hits and ambitious new dramas across broadcast TV. At Collider, Amanda explores character arcs, storytelling trends, and the cultural impact of network series that keep audiences tuning in week after week. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is bilingual and holds a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies from the University of New Haven. Inde Navarrette nailed the joke. On her Saturday Night Live hosting debut, she tied her Marvel workout routine to Shane Gillis’ recent comments about women at the gym, saying she puts on her “little whore outfit” before hitting the weights. It was clear that the joke landed like a plane on a runway by how the audience reacted, but Navarrette’s punchline also makes one wonder why a guest host was the one addressing a controversy the show had put on its own stage. The Halloween episode gave Navarrette plenty to do; she handled the monologue with ease, then moved through the night’s sketches as a ghost, a game-show contestant and a telenovela star. The episode showed off her comic range, and while the Gillis joke was a highlight, it shouldn’t become the whole story of her debut — or the show’s response to his monologue. Inde Navarrette’s Shane Gillis Joke Hit Its Mark Image via NBC During his October 10 monologue, Gillis called women at the gym “whores” because of what they wore, then complained that men were expected not to stare at them. He made women the target of a degrading, sexualized joke and treated men’s entitlement to look at their bodies as the punchline. Actor Dan Levy rejected that framing, in short, saying that women’s clothes don’t make them “whores” and that calling them that is misogynistic. Navarrette’s response to the distasteful bit was pointed and funny. She was talking about getting fit for her upcoming role as Rogue in Marvel’s X-Men reboot, then flipped Gillis’ language back at him. She didn’t need to explain the entire controversy for the audience to get it; one line was enough to remind viewers what Gillis had said — and make his wording sound as ugly coming back as it did the first time. Mind, however, that this is not a knock on Navarrette. She may have wanted to address Gillis herself, and the joke was entirely her choice to make, delivering it with confidence. But she was making her SNL hosting debut at 25, had no part in Gillis’ monologue, and owed the show no cleanup. A guest host choosing to make a joke doesn’t shift responsibility for the original broadcast onto her. Why Was a Guest Host Carrying ‘SNL’s Response? Image via NBC SNL had plenty of ways to address the remarks in its own voice. Cast members could have taken up the subject in a sketch; the show’s established performers could have made the point; even Colin Jost and Michael Che could have addressed it on Weekend Update, a segment built around the week’s news and the show’s own comic perspective.Instead, the clearest response came from a guest host who arrived weeks later. The choice leaves the show at a remove from the controversy it helped create: SNL broadcast Gillis’ remarks, but Navarrette became the person most visibly answering for them. Her joke gave the audience a satisfying callback, while letting the regular cast and the show itself remain mostly outside the exchange. Levy’s criticism at the time raised the obvious question: Why are women so often expected to challenge misogynistic remarks while the men around them stay quiet? Levy specifically called for more men to speak up, and the point applies to the people working on the same show as Gillis, too. SNL has male cast members, writers, and anchors who could have said something — its own platform could have made the point without asking its newest host to carry it. SNL Keeps Its Regular Voices at a Distance Image by Rosalind O’Connor/NBC SNL isn't afraid of controversy; the show often mines it for jokes, but when a subject gets uncomfortable, its regular performers can seem oddly distant from the sharpest commentary. The contrast with SNL UK’s handling of Gillis’ comments and political material, including its Ed Sheeran and Palestine coverage, makes the American show’s reluctance to put its own voices front and center harder to miss. Even Weekend Update during Navarette’s episode undercut its own edge. While SNL UK’s Paddy Young bit gave Che a chance to engage with an uncomfortable joke about Israel and Palestine, Che’s delivery faltered quickly, then cut to Jost’s sitcom-like reaction, and the moment drained the punchline of confidence. If the show wants its regular voices to own difficult material, they have to sell it, and the framing around it has to let the joke land. Not every controversial joke needs a formal rebuttal, and a sketch show shouldn't issue a statement whenever a host provokes a response; comedy needs room to take risks, and SNL doesn’t have to turn every debate into a lecture. There is, however, a difference between making space for comedy and acting as though nobody owns the choice to air a joke. Gillis’ remarks weren’t an accidental live-broadcast slip; his "jokes" were prepared material that made it through the show’s approval process and onto the broadcast. Navarrette’s joke was a brilliant response, and she deserves credit for making it, but SNL shouldn’t need a guest host to say what its own stars could have said. Her willingness to address Gillis’ remarks doesn’t make her responsible for cleaning up after them, or let the show off the hook for airing them. SNL should have taken ownership through its regular voices and made clear it understood why the monologue drew criticism. Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:29 p.m. EST on NBC, and streams the next day on Peacock.