Shane Gillis performed a bold and controversial monologue to open the 2025 ESPY Awards, and it quickly became one of the most disputed moments from the awards show. The comedian known for being as unfiltered as possible took aim at a lot of common figures, including Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles, Aaron Rodgers, and Donald Trump, so this monologue had a broad reach. Shane's jokes were lightheartedly teasing to much more serious, edgy remarks that didn't well with a large portion of people in the audience.
Some of the audience response was laughter particularly during his jokes about Bill Belichick. But other moments were met with silence or the evident discomfort of the audience. He even acknowledged the reactions he got from the audience when he said on stage that he could tell many in the room didn't like him.
One of the more serious moments was when he mentioned trump and joked about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Some people chuckled, but other audience members were obviously distressed. The performance generated an immediate wave of comments on social media, and people were divided between defending Gillis's rights to joke about who and what he wanted as a comedian and lambasting him for going too far at an event that was supposed to celebrate athletic pursuits.
Shane Gillis at the ESPYS:
— Lit News Network (@litnewsnet) July 17, 2025
“They let me do it. This is Disney. They allowed that... Yeah, we should've taken that out. I had doubts going into that. That didn't work all week." pic.twitter.com/6Fga0rp8tJ
Jokes About Athletes Spark Online Backlash
A major source of criticism was the jokes directed at female athletes. Gillis made comments about Simone Biles, which some viewers felt to be disrespectful. He also mispronounced the name of WNBA champion Diana Taurasi, who visibly rolled her eyes in audience, and many fans on social media found the comments awkward and unnecessary.
Many took issue with his comments about Caitlin Clark's upbringing, with some declaring them to be at a line that shouldn't have been crossed.
Many audience members, while understanding Gillis's rough profile of humor, expressed that the ESPYs—the award show honoring real achievements in sports—wasn't the right space for Gillis to bring that humor.
Aside from Gillis's jokes, the show continued as planned, and some of the best athletes in the world—like Simone Biles and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—were celebrated for their achievements. But while awards were being handed out, the focus of most conversations after the show were still about Gillis's monologue.
This incident brings up a broader question of what type of humor originates from major televised events—and if shock value still works today?
