A US comedian’s jokes amid the Cornell rape scandal have set off a firestorm

October 14, 2026 — 4:00pm

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Two weeks after allegations of a 20-year-old woman being gang-raped by seven men at Cornell University were made public, US comedian Shane Gillis used his opening monologue of Saturday Night Live to declare “women just dress like whores now”.

Gillis, who has more than 3 million followers on social media and a lucrative Netflix deal that includes a stand-up special, made the gag when speaking about his recent attempt to lose weight.

After laughing about how he probably made a woman hiking alone feel unsafe, the 38-year-old then said, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now.”

Amid audible groans, he continued with a smile on his face, “I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe it.”

The comment was delivered less as observational comedy and more as a statement of fact. Because as Gillis explained, the problem is that when women exercise in the gym, they wear gym clothes. This makes it impossible for him to not leer like a pervert, and as such, clothed women are to blame.

For audiences in Australia unfamiliar with his work, Gillis isn’t a comedian as much as he is a poster boy for people who........

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