Shane Gillis ruffled plenty of feathers with his ESPYs monologue on Wednesday night, but ESPN bosses are reportedly unfazed by the controversial performance.
The comedian took aim at a slew of sports stars onstage, including Caitlin Clark, Bill Belichick and Shohei Ohtani, while he even mocked President Donald Trump with a Jeffrey Epstein joke.
But according to a source who spoke to TMZ, Gillis’ work hosting the show was ‘appreciated’ by the network, who previously featured the Notre Dame fan on ‘College Gameday.’
TMZ added that ESPN and Gillis have had ‘a great relationship… for some time’, and said there were no issues at the network over his performance on Wednesday.
Gillis stunned attendees of the award show when he quipped about the January 6 Capitol Hill riots before bringing up Epstein.
‘Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn ,’ Gillis began. ‘The last time he staged a fight in D.C., Mike Pence almost died.’
Shane Gillis pushed the limits with his opening monologue at the 2025 ESPYs
Gillis has previously appeared on ESPN’s ‘College Gameday’ pregame football program
Caitlin Clark was one of Gillis’ targets during his opening monologue on Wednesday
‘There was supposed to be an Epstein joke here but I guess it got deleted,’ Gillis then continued, referencing Trump’s handling of the infamous case. ‘Probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed, actually. Let’s move on as a country and ignore that.’
Gillis also pushed the limit in mentioning Clark, saying when she ‘retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist- fighting black women.’
And Gillis also took aim at Dodgers star Ohtani, before setting his sights on Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
‘Shohei is a once in a generation talent. No one’s been able to do what he’s done at so many positions – pitcher, hitter, and bookie,’ he said, referring to his ex- interpreter’s $17million betting scandal .
‘Bookie’ is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime,’ he continued, to rapturous laughter
‘They do the ‘Very horny caterpillar,’ ‘The little engine that could but needed a pill first,’ and of course, ‘Good night boobs.’ That’s my favorite one.
‘Not trashing Bill Belichick,’ Gillis went on. ‘He is 73 years old and dating a hot 24-year-old. People are criticizing him. What happened to this country? We used to be a great country. He won six Super Bowls. He is dating a hot 24-year-old. Maybe if you guys won six Super Bowls you wouldn’t be sitting next to a fat ugly dog wife.’
That last quip drew a shocked reaction from the crowd before Gillis backtracked.
‘They let me do it. This is Disney. They allowed that… Yeah, we should’ve taken that out,’ he said. ‘I had doubts going into that. That didn’t work all week.’
Gillis also compared Olympic gymnast Simone Biles to a ‘leprechaun. ‘
‘Simone is 4’8′ and has seven gold medals. She’s short and has a lot of gold. When she’s not competing, she leads a very quiet life at the base of a rainbow. If you tell Simone a riddle and she can’t answer, she has to give you all her gold,’ he cracked.
