"SNL" alum Dana Carvey is weighing in on the Shane Gillis "kerfuffle," and he doesn't see the big deal.
On his "Fly on the Wall" podcast with David Spade, Carvey addressed the controversy surrounding Gillis' recent "Saturday Night Live" monologue that included a line that women "dress like whores" at the gym.
Carvey, who originally starred on "SNL" from 1986 to 1993, said he was confused about why the joke caused such a stir.
"I just didn't understand the kerfuffle, only because to me, I saw it as what we call – I'll just say it – a joke," he said. "Like, when you say jokes, you're not literally saying women are whores. You are literally joking. Isn't that kind of the idea? No? Did I just get canceled? Wasn't it a joke?"
The "Wayne's World" star,
71, added that the joke likely "destroyed" in comedy clubs, though he acknowledged that "SNL" may not have been the "right place" for the material because "most of the audience is young women."
Gillis' controversial comments came in his Oct. 10 monologue, where he discussed going to the gym to lose weight. "I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dress like whores now," he joked. "Look, I'm sorry, there's no other way to describe – have you seen it? The shorts?"
Gillis continued that "you're not allowed to look" at the women and quipped that he is "in the background of like 10 TikToks" that were filmed at the gym.
The joke sparked backlash immediately after it aired, with "Schitt's Creek" star Dan Levy expressing outrage on Instagram.
"Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores," he said in a video. "It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There's a difference there. By the way, I've seen more men's nipples at the gym than I've ever seen women showing their bodies off."
Former "SNL" star Ego Nwodim also threw shade a Gillis, posting a selfie taken at the gym on Instagram and writing, "whore reporting for duty." Even "SNL" itself mocked Gillis, at least the British version. In the "Weekend Update" segment of "SNL UK" on Oct. 17, anchor Ania Magliano discussed a story about an Oktoberfest ride operator giving women free cycling shorts.
"Wearing the gym shorts will protect women from being upskirted, but it does make them vulnerable to something much worse," she said, before a photo of Gillis from his "SNL" monologue was shown.
Gillis has not addressed the controversy, and there hasn't been a new episode of "SNL" since his monologue.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'SNL' alum Dana Carvey doesn't get 'the kerfuffle' over Shane Gillis joke
