Ex-ESPN personality rips Shane Gillis' controversial ESPYS monologue

The 2025 ESPYS are in the books and the night of celebration for the biggest and best sports stars and achievements created some viral moments. Comedian Shane Gillis, who delivered the opening monologue, also went viral for several of his jokes but was met with mixed reaction.

Gillis cracked jokes about Caitlin Clark fighting Black women at Waffle House and how unrecognizable WNBA stars, while also making some controversial jokes about DeShaun Waton, Jeffery Epstein, soccer icon Megan Rapinoe, and much more.

It was clear throughout his monologue that many in the crowd weren't feeling his jokes, and the controversy spilled over the social media.

MORE: Complete list of award winners from the 2025 ESPYS

Former ESPN personality Sarah Spain was among the many people who called out Gillis for his edgy humor, focusing on the comments made towards the female athletes.

“In a year of crazy growth for women’s sports choosing an ESPYs host who doesn’t even try to make clever jokes about women athletes (he at least *attempted* for the men) he goes with hacky ‘no one knows the WNBA’ bits, ‘Pinoe is a bad time’ & repeatedly insults Black women," Spain wrote on X.

"COOL.”

With comedy, you can never dictate how people react to a joke because it is all subject, but Gillis is known for toeing the line. ESPN knew what they were getting, and likely knew the reaction would be mixed.

After all, Gillis has now hosted SNL multiple times and generated the same reaction every time.

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