“He just seems a little slower than usual,” Gillis said of the current POTUS.

Fired SNL comedian Shane Gillis says Trump’s mental health is ‘circling the drain’

"He just seems a little slower than usual," Gillis said of the current POTUS.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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November 21, 2025 6:19 p.m. ET

Shane Gillis, Donald Trump. Credit:

Chris Saucedo/Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Shane Gillis thinks that President Donald Trump's mental health is in danger.

The stand-up comedian — who was fired from *Saturday Night Live* in 2019 before appearing in any episodes after past racist remarks resurfaced — speculated on the POTUS' mental state on Thursday's episode of his *Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast.*

Cohost Matt McCusker asked Gillis if he believes Trump, 79, is "getting dementia," and Gillis responded with a sigh, "I mean, I don’t know. He just seems a little slower than usual."

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

McCusker added that there's "speculation that T-Dog might be rocking Biden brains," referencing former President Joe Biden, 83.

"He’s definitely not at Biden brains yet," Gillis responded. "But he’s circling the drain."

Gillis pointed to the recent incident where Trump mocked a female Bloomberg reporter by calling her "piggy" in response to her question about the release of the Epstein files.

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"'Quiet, piggy' was f---ing crazy," Gillis said. "It's pretty wild. I just can’t think of how embarrassed that lady must have been."

Bloomberg's White House correspondent Catherine Lucey addressed her question regarding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal to Trump while aboard Air Force One last week. Lucey asked about Trump's behavior regarding the vote to release the Epstein files "if there’s nothing incriminating in the files." But Trump cut her off, pointing at her and saying, "Quiet. Quiet, piggy."

Gillis was infamously hired and fired by *SNL* in 2019. He was announced as one of three new cast members joining for the 45th season, along with Chloe Fineman and then-writer Bowen Yang. But he was fired just four days later following fan outcry over resurfaced recordings of him using racist, including anti-Chinese, and homophobic slurs on his podcast.

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When announcing Gillis' firing, *SNL* apologized for not being aware of his prior remarks and admitted that the "vetting process was not up to our standard." Afterward, Gillis released a statement that did not include an apology for using the slurs and even took a jab at the long-running sketch series he was nearly part of: "I'm a comedian who was funny enough to get *SNL*. That can’t be taken away. Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at *SNL*, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a *Mad TV* guy anyway."

However, Gillis has since hosted the NBC sketch series twice, and has become known for attracting a MAGA fanbase. *SNL* executive producer Lorne Michaels later admitted he had not wanted to fire the controversial comedian from the cast at the time. "That was very strong from the people in charge," Michaels told *The Wall Street Journal*. "And obviously I was not on that side, but I understood it."**

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