Shane Gillis Accused Of ‘Inappropriate’ WNBA Joke At The ESPYs originally appeared on The Spun.
Shane Gillis, the popular comedian once fired from “Saturday Night Live,” hosted The ESPYs on Wednesday night.
The Pennsylvania native, who played college football, was named the host of the sports-themed awards show earlier this summer. As typically is the case with The ESPYs, there were some off-color jokes. Hopefully, no one got too offended.
One Caitlin Clark, WNBA players joke is sure to make headlines, though.
The popular comedian went viral for a joke some have deemed “inappropriate” when it comes to Caitlin Clark and the WNBA’s top players.
His joke about Caitlin Clark, WNBA players and Waffle House is going viral.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JULY 16: Shane Gillis speaks onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Gillis went viral for his joke about Clark, the WNBA’s Black players and Waffle House.
“When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can keep doing what she loves most, fist-fighting black women,” Gillis said on stage.
The joke got a lot of laughs in the room, though many on social media are accusing Gillis of making an inappropriate joke about Black WNBA players.
Some, unsurprisingly, did not like it.
“It was disgusting and inappropriate behavior by Mr. Gillis. ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. What is he doing on stage? This is an outrage,” one wrote.
Another added: “This joke is for white people who don’t follow WNBA games. Clark has been in scraps with both black and white basketball players. Gillis makes ignorant jokes for ignorant people.”
Shane Gillis on stage.ESPYs.
For the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy the joke, though we’ll have to see how the rest of the reaction goes.
Gillis, to his credit, has made it clear that he’s a massive fan of Clark. He met the WNBA star earlier this year and was admittedly starstruck.
“I just added a third to the people that have stunned me…Caitlin Clark, dude. Caitlin Clark was at the show,” Gillis said. “Before the show, we were in Indianapolis on Saturday, and we were like ‘This is the house Caitlin Clark built,’ talking about the [Indiana] Pacers building.”
“We were at lunch and I was like ‘It would be f—ing sick if Caitlin Clark came to the show, that would be nice.’ And then I was pacing back and forth between the show and green room, and then Caitlin Clark walked by,” he added.
We’ll have to see how Clark responds to the joke, too.
Shane Gillis Accused Of ‘Inappropriate’ WNBA Joke At The ESPYs first appeared on The Spun on Jul 17, 2025
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
