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Shane Gillis' ex-girlfriend joins 'SNL' critics with workout snaps

Grace Brassel says relationship 'stripped me of who I am'

Published Oct 16, 2026  •  Last updated 1 day ago  •  3 minute read

Grace Brassel and Shane Gillis. Photo by Grace Brassel /Instagram

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Shane Gillis’ ex-girlfriend Grace Brassel has joined the public backlash against the comedian’s heavily criticized monologue on Saturday Night Live.

Gillis came under fire after he described female gymgoers as “whores” during his monologue.

“I try to go to a public gym. Going to a public gym as a fat guy, especially in New York, is a nightmare. It’s just the hottest gay guys you’ve ever seen … Also, I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?” Gillis said during his opener.

“Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe [it]. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. You’ve seen the shorts? They’re those neon, like, artificial bait-coloured [shorts], and the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look! You’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look, because they are filming. I’m in the background of 10 TikToks right now.”

Brassel reposted Dan Levy’s viral takedown, in which the Schitt’s Creek star and co-creator said he was “speechless that something like that can exist on live national television.”

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The social media influencer also shared an Instagram video of herself doing a gym routine and wrote atop the video, “Full Body Workout for Hoes.”

“Super quick full body workout for my women at the gym!” she captioned her post.

In addition to the gym video, Brassel addressed her breakup with the comedian in a separate post in which she said she was harassed by his fans.

“Last year I was in a relationship that fully stripped me of who I am,” Brassel wrote. “I’ve been so terrified to even talk about what I went through, especially after relentless bullying from his fanbase (for no reason).”

She continued, “I want to share this to let women know IT GETS BETTER!! And you can do it! I had it on level hard mode, and I survived! And I’ve never been happier.”

In addition to Levy and Brassel, Gillis caught flak from Jenna Bush Hager and former SNL cast members Cecily Strong and Ego Nwodim.

“This perpetuates what is happening in our culture where people are commenting on women’s looks ad nauseam … and it’s not OK,” Bush Hager said during Tuesday’s episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle.

Strong shared a photo to her Instagram Stories of her legs and feet in gym clothes.

“On my way to Pilates in my new slutty ass orange shoes and rainbow socks,” Strong captioned her snap. “Might sell sex on the way not sure.”

Nwodim posted a gym selfie to her Instagram story with the caption, “Whore reporting for duty.”

Meanwhile, singer Maren Morris blasted Gillis on Instagram, flashing her middle finger and writing, “me being a wh0re at the gym.”

“Leave my gym short wedgie out of it,” she captioned her post.

But Levy’s criticisms made the biggest headlines when he chided Gillis for his opening jokes.

“Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there,” he said in a self-shot video posted to Instagram.

He also stressed that “men need to be defending women more.”

“This is not a women’s issue, this is an everybody issue. Because the more that men objectify women in the media, the more that other men see them as objects and treat them as objects,” he concluded. “They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men, OK? And I’m sorry if this gets me in trouble with the Internet, but f***.”

Gillis’ jokes about women weren’t the only controversial thing to happen Saturday night. The funnyman also dropped an F-bomb during a Dr. Seuss-inspired sketch.

He later apologized for the on-air slipup during the show’s end credits.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

1. 
   Dan Levy rips Shane Gillis' misogynist 'SNL' opener
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