Whoopi Goldberg Slams Shane Gillis’ polarizing ESPY Awards opening monologue: ‘That’s a mistake’

The comedian drew mixed reactions for his jokes about Jeffrey Epstein, the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the age gap between Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson.

The ladies of The View have some thoughts on the polarizing opening monologue that Shane Gillis delivered at the 2025 ESPY Awards last night.

The 37-year-old comedian drew mixed reactions both from the athletes in attendance at the Los Angeles event and on social media after he jokingly compared President Donald Trump’s future UFC fight at the White House to the Jan. 6 insurrection, poked fun at the age gap between Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson, and claimed that there was an “Epstein joke in here, but I guess it got deleted,” amongst other punchlines.

View moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the Academy Awards four times in her career, appeared less than impressed with Gillis’ jokes as she rested her hand on her chin with a bored expression. “You know, hosting an award show is a tough gig,” she admitted. “And so I’ll ask you, you think he read that room correctly?”

Shane Gillis speaks onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, Calif.

Veteran stand-up comedian Joy Behar certainly didn’t think so. “No, no, no, no,” she replied. “Basically, when you do an awards show, they’re there to hear their name called. They’re not there to laugh, number one.”

Still, she gave Gillis a little bit of grace because she claimed that stand-up comedy is “one of the hardest” things a person can do. “I did it for 30 years. It’s so hard,” Behar confessed. “It’s like a high-wire act. And I always say it’s like I’m onstage naked and everybody else has clothes. That’s how it feels.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin also pointed out that Gillis’ jokes may have landed better online than they did IRL.

“It looked like the audience didn’t love it, but I saw online he seemed he was getting a ton of praise, so I wonder if he was performing more for the audience at home,” she said. “I’ll say this: I think Shane Gillis is very funny, but I watch him like I watch horror movies — like this [peeking behind her hands] — because I’m like, ‘What is he gonna say? Is it gonna make me deeply uncomfortable, or am I gonna laugh hysterically?’ Because he’s know for pushing the line. He’s gotten himself into trouble before.”

She continued, “But, I think, we say it all the time: Comedians have to be able to go there to keep comedy authentic — especially moments where you need it more.”

While Behar was cutting Gillis some slack, she explained that there was “one thing he did that I didn’t like” in his monologue. “He said, ‘I didn’t write that joke.’ Never do that,” she tutted. “Johnny Carson was on the air for, I don’t know, 100 years? Never once did he say, ‘The writer wrote that bad joke that I just bombed with.’ That’s bad form. That’s a mistake.”

Sara Haines added that she could feel Gillis’ nerves when watching him perform. “Well, when you’re bombing,” Behar began, to which Haines replied, “Still, if he then maybe redirected [that energy]…. There were moments where you could give some genuine shoutouts, like where you call out some of the amazing greats in that room without a joking following every one.”

Behar interjected, “You have to know how to work the room. I don’t know if he knows how to do that.”

And, honestly, Sunny Hostin thought that some of Gillis’ jokes were actually kind of funny. “The Epstein joke, he said, ‘You know, I guess it got deleted. Probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed, actually. Let’s move on as a country and ignore that.’ I thought that was funny.”

Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin on ‘The View’.

Behar agreed that some of Gillis’ material was comical, but that it was bad form to assume that viewers and attendees would all know exactly what he was referring to with the joke. “Never make that assumption,” she warned. “The audience doesn’t read what you read.”

Goldberg concluded, “I guess when you know how to do the material, you can make it work. You can make it work without being offensive and terrible. So? What do I know? I’m a used-to-be.”