Shane Gillis' awkward ESPYS monologue draws mixed reactions
Early on, he called out various famous faces in the Dolby Theatre crowd, including retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi, who was to receive the Icon Award later in the evening. Gillis said, 'Give it up for her' after calling her 'Deanna.' The camera showed an unsmiling Taurasi shaking her head. Gillis quickly caught his mistake, saying, 'My bad on that.'
Gillis moved on to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, who wasn't on hand.
'When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she's going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist fighting Black women,' he joked.
While some in the audience laughed, others appeared uncomfortable.
Gillis plowed on for 10 minutes, with jokes about President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, whose sex trafficking investigation has roiled the Justice Department and FBI.
Gillis' performance drew mixed reviews on social media, with some calling him 'hilarious' and others 'cringey.'
Gillis' initial joke about North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson drew a lot of laughs.
"A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bed time,' he said. 'They read 'The Very Horny Caterpillar,' 'The Little Engine That Could But Needed a Pill Firs't' and of course the classic 'Goodnight Boobs.''
But the reaction was mixed as Gillis continued.
"He won six Super Bowls. He's dating a hot 24 year old. Maybe if you guys won six Super Bowls you wouldn't be sitting next to a fat ugly dog wife.'
Gillis admitted he should have cut that part of the joke.
NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander smiled when Gillis said, 'SGA is here. Everybody sitting around him is in foul trouble.'
Gillis retold what he called 'a dumb joke' that he said he loved from former 'Saturday Night Live' comic Norm MacDonald's stint as ESPYS host in 1998.
Gillis congratulated Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter for winning the Heisman Trophy.
'That's something they can never take away from you unless you kill your wife and a waiter,' he said, referring to the late O.J. Simpson.
Before closing it out, a smiling Gillis said, "I see a lot of you don't like me and that's OK. That's it for me. That went about exactly how we all thought it was going to go. I don't know why this happened.'
Jimmy V Award
An emotional Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance with her husband and children looking on. The Penn State women's volleyball coach was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in September. She continued coaching without missing a practice and became the first woman to guide a team to the NCAA national championship.
'Cancer changed my life but it didn't take it. It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my spirit and it didn't take my team,' she said.
Sports Humanitarian Awards
The Indianapolis Colts and former U.S. Open tennis champion Sloane Stephens were among the winners at the 11th annual Sports Humanitarian Awards.
The Colts were honored as the team of the year for their Kicking the Stigma campaign to raise mental health awareness and expand access to treatment.
Stephens received the Muhammad Ali award for her namesake foundation that works to make tennis more inclusive through access, representation and support for kids on and off the court. She beat out Washington Wizards guard CJ McCollum and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.
Michele Kang, the billionaire owner of the NWSL's Washington Spirit, was chosen as the Sports Philanthropist of the Year. Billy Bean, former MLB player and executive, was honored with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award.
___
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
44 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
A concert in Italy by Russian conductor Gergiev is canceled after protests
ROME (AP) — A concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been canceled, organizers in Italy announced Monday, following protests against giving the stage to the conductor who has been largely barred from European venues for failing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev had been invited to conduct during a summer festival at the Royal Palace of Caserta near Naples next Sunday. The regional governor, Vincenzo de Luca, had defended the invitation, saying that 'the logic of preclusion … does not help peace.'' The invitation had been widely criticized by human rights activists, Russian opposition figures and European parliamentarians. Milan's La Scala was the first theater in the West to cut off relations with Gergiev, who was engaged at the theater when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, after he failed to respond to Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala's appeal to speak out against the war.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Knock, knock. Who's there? Fever veteran Sydney Colson, the funniest WNBA player
INDIANAPOLIS — Sydney Colson, widely considered one of the funniest players in the WNBA, wasn't fearful of any awkward moments throughout her stand-up comedy set Saturday during WNBA All-Star Weekend. If the Indiana Fever guard made a joke that didn't land with the audience at the Everwise Amphitheater in downtown Indianapolis, she planned to give herself some grace. Advertisement If the crowd was tough on her, she planned to give herself some laughs, too. 'It's more butterflies than nerves at the anticipation of something,' Colson told The Athletic a few days before her set. 'But once I'm on the stage, (the reaction) is whatever, because I'm the kind of person that if people don't laugh and I thought it was funny, I'll still laugh anyway.' Fortunately for Colson, when she took the stage for the most notable stand-up performance of her budding comedy career, there wasn't much silence as she delivered her jokes. The crowd flowed with laughter as Colson displayed why her talent isn't just limited to the basketball court. Colson's set was a part of Fever Fest, a joint venture between her Indiana team and Hartbeat, an entertainment company owned by comedian Kevin Hart. The comedy and music festival featured performances from rap artists Bia and The Kid LAROI, as well as big-time comedians Deon Cole, Leslie Jones and Cedric the Entertainer. Colson was the opening act, an opportunity that had been years in the making. 'At the beginning of 2020, during the pandemic, I told myself that … I would go and do stand-up somewhere,' said Colson, who performed her first set in Houston a few years ago. 'I was kind of nervous about it, so anytime I'm nervous about something, I want to face it head-on. Because what's the reason for that fear? I want to know.' Since then, Colson, who said she's spent years studying more accomplished comedians, has continued to ascend. Her big break came when she landed a comedy series alongside former teammate and fellow aspiring comedian Theresa Plaisance titled 'The Syd + TP Show.' The 10-episode series premiered on FuboTV in September 2023. Colson, 35, hopes that Saturday's set at Fever Fest serves as another springboard toward her goal of becoming a full-time comedian and actress whenever she retires from pro basketball. 🤗🙏🏾technically my second time, but it's been like 4 years so I'm gonna force myself to do this more regularly now — Sydney Colson (@SydJColson) July 21, 2025 'My job is very public,' Colson said. 'People are gonna see when you lost a game or you didn't play well, but at the end of the day, basketball is just not that deep to me. I love it, and I work hard at it; I take it very seriously when I'm on the court. But we're not solving the world's problems with a basketball, so we should be allowed to laugh. And for me, I want to make as many people laugh as I can.' Colson's teammates, including two-time All-Star Caitlin Clark, tried to get her to practice her Fever Fest jokes on them. Clark even said she gave Colson a few 'bits to work on,' while secretly hoping to get a preview of Colson's set, but Colson wouldn't budge. If they wanted to see her perform, they had to show up in person like everyone else. Advertisement Clark, who was voted a team captain in the All-Star Game, had a jam-packed schedule Saturday and was unable to make it. However, in Clark's absence, Colson still had plenty of in-person support from the Fever, including teammate Sophie Cunningham, coach Stephanie White and COO/general manager Amber Cox. They all laughed and cheered as Colson opened Fever Fest with a seven-minute performance while she shuffled through her cue cards. The laughter grew louder with each punchline. Colson, whom White jokingly called 'the face of the league,' is one of the few WNBA players who is seemingly loved by fans, players and coaches of every franchise, likely because of her self-deprecating humor. Colson received a round of applause from the audience and a congratulatory hug from Cole as she left the stage. However, for all the jokes she cracked at Fever Fest, her teammates have made it clear all season that Colson's presence within the Fever franchise is no joke at all. 'She's one of the main leaders inside of our locker room, if not the leader in our locker room,' Clark said. 'She's the constant voice, and she has that great balance of when things can be fun and loose and making jokes and keeping everything light. But also, she's won before. She knows what it takes to win.' Colson is a two-time WNBA champion, winning back-to-back titles during her three-year stint with the Las Vegas Aces, before joining the Fever this year during free agency. She also won a national championship at Texas A&M in 2011, the only national title in program history. However, Colson is quick to point out that the peaks of her career wouldn't have occurred without her perseverance in the valleys. She tore her right ACL before her sophomore season at Texas A&M in 2008, underwent surgery in June 2008 and played in the Aggies' season opener against Mercer just 147 days later. Advertisement She was waived by the Connecticut Sun during her rookie season and spent three years playing overseas before returning to the WNBA, where she latched on for three years with the San Antonio Stars (now the Aces). She was out of the WNBA again in 2021, only to return and help the Aces raise two championship banners in 2022 and 2023. Despite being viewed as a perpetual jokester, Colson said she wasn't always upbeat throughout her trials. There were dark days and lonely hours. She views her comedic timing as a rare spiritual gift that has not only helped her along her journey but could help someone else along theirs, especially as she leans more into her 'other craft' of stand-up comedy. 'You can have down moments. You can even be seasonally depressed,' Colson said. 'Some people struggle with mood disorders or whatever it may be. So, I don't take it lightly that this is the mental state that I was given and the heart that I was given. I always try to uplift myself and make fun of myself, and in return, other people can hopefully be uplifted by that, too.' (Top photo of Sydney Colson: Courtesy of Indiana Fever)
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Was Kelsey Plum really ripping Caitlin Clark over All-Star moment? 3 theories
It's one of the more perplexing stories from WNBA All-Star weekend that left us all scratching our heads. After players all wore "Pay Us What You Owe Us" shirts in warmups on Saturday -- a shot at the league as collective bargaining agreement negotiations ramp up -- player's association VP Kelsey Plum talked about the shirts and how that effort came together that Saturday morning. It was in that recounting that she said this: "Not to tattletale, but zero members of Team [Caitlin] Clark were very present for that." Huh. What... what does that mean? Is that a shot at Caitlin Clark? At the players on the Fever star's All-Star team? We have no context yet. But let's break down some theories we have about this whole thing: Theory 1: Kelsey Plum was joking If this is a joke, it's kind of not funny, right? But it seems like the two have (jokingly, we think) thrown shade at each other in various ways. Check out this joke Clark made on Plum's Instagram: And this Clark trolling ended with a hug with Plum: And remember when Plum wanted Clark to be given a technical foul? So it could be a very badly delivered joke. Theory 2: Kelsey Plum needs to remind the players that they need a united front Maybe this wasn't meant for Caitlin Clark specifically. Maybe it was for the entire player's association, to give them a heads up that in order to get paid what they owe, they can't miss meetings to come up with messages. Theory 3: Caitlin Clark's team really didn't attend the meeting about All-Star t-shirts and Kelsey Plum had to call it out Which brings up more questions: if this really did happen, why did Team Clark miss the meeting? What was the communication breakdown? Did Clark et al not want to be a part of it? But they put on the t-shirts anyway? This is where we absolutely need Plum to clarify her comments. Hopefully she will and all this will be put behind the players as they fight for what they deserve in the next CBA.
