President Trump is a “fan” of stand-up comic Shane Gillis, whom he considers to be on his “side” after the pair met at the Super Bowl earlier this month, the commander in chief revealed in a new interview.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Spectator editor Ben Domenech, Trump was asked if he’s a fan of Gillis — who is hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend for the second time after being controversially axed from the show in 2019.
“Well, he’s a very good… I mean, on our side, right?” Trump asked Domenech, who responded, “Definitely.”
“I like him, and I like everybody that’s on my side. You know, I’m just old-fashioned in that way. I like those people,” the president continued.
“And we have a lot of people. We have more people than anybody understands.”
Gillis, who’s skyrocketed to fame since the late-night sketch show dropped him, recently met briefly with Trump — whom he often impersonates and cracks jokes about in his comedy — at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
He revealed on a recent episode of his podcast “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast” that he and country music star Zach Bryan were invited to the president’s suite, a room he described as “intense” with Secret Service agents barking orders.
“I finally had the moment — quick handshake,” Gillis said about his quick hello with the president, adding that he was pretty sure Trump “has no idea who I am.”
“His sons do for sure,” he added.
Staying on comedy, Domenech told Trump he believes he has changed the culture so that people and comedians “feel they [can] finally say things.”
Domenech, whose father is Puerto Rican, noted that he was not offended when roast comic Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke about Puerto Rico — which he called a “floating island of garbage” — during Trump’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in October.
The podcaster’s crass jab sparked outrage from Democrats and Puerto Rican communities in the final days before the 2024 election.
“The sad part about that was it turned out to be nothing, and I didn’t think it was going to be much, but they made such a big deal,” Trump said.
“They were desperate. But they took that joke. But the big thing was that I could have sold out Madison Square Garden 10 times,” he added.
