Kathy Griffin calls Shane Gillis a ‘hack’ but defends his right to offend

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Kathy Griffin isn’t holding back when it comes to Shane Gillis.

The outspoken comedian slammed the controversial “Saturday Night Live” host as a “hack” and took aim at a crop of male comics who she claimed “all look like they can’t get laid.”

However, Griffin, 65, defended Gillis’ right to make offensive jokes after he sparked backlash for saying women “dress like whores” at gyms during his “SNL” monologue over the weekend.

“I think as a comic I’m always going to fight for the First Amendment and his right to say it and yet I don’t have to like it,” she told Page Six in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

“So, I defend his right to say it, and I also defend everyone else’s right to think less of him.”

“There are a lot of hacks who are doing very well, and they come from TikTok or the podcast world,” the Emmy winner explained, citing Joe Rogan.

“He’s not the only guy to break out from Joe Rogan’s influence,” she continued.

“There are so many; they all look alike to me. They all look like they can’t get laid; they all sound alike to me; they all tell the same jokes…and they tell these jokes about women that are from like 100 years ago, like women should be in the kitchen and shut up and all this other stuff.”

A rep for Gillis didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

During his opening monologue Saturday, Gillis took aim at female gymgoers’ shorts — specifically “those neon … artificial-bait color” shorts with “wrinkles [that] go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole.”

The actor, who dropped an uncensored F-bomb later in the show, continued, “You’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look, because they are filming. I’m in the background of about 10 TikToks right now.”

Gillis was cast on “SNL” in 2019 — but fired within a week due to backlash over resurfaced podcast clips that showed him using racist and homophobic slurs.

Several celebs, including “SNL” alum Ego Nwodim and Dan Levy, criticized Gillis.

“Women wearing short shorts to the gym does not make them whores. It makes the men calling them whores misogynists. There’s a difference there,” the “Schitt’s Creek” star said in an Instagram post.

The “My Life on the D-List” alum stressed that she doesn’t consider herself woke, “which is probably what those guys are saying to anyone that objects to that joke.”

“I think it’s important that comedians evolve and change with the times,” she explained, “and if that means taking certain words (out) that you used to use…”

The Grammy winner acknowledged, “I used many words that horrify me (now), but I don’t use them now. I want to think that I’m still learning.”

Griffin is currently on tour and will be appearing at The Town Hall on Friday.

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