Gillis draws boos and laughter in the middle of bumps at Caitlin Clark and Donald Trump at Espys -Ceremony | sport

Comedian Shane Gillis' opening monologue as host of the Espys Awards Ceremony went on Wednesday evening some of the biggest names in sport in sports.

He called out various famous faces in the Dolby Theater Crowd in Los Angeles early on, including the retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi, who later received the Icon Award in the evening. Gillis asked the crowd to “give up taurasi”, but only after he called the six -time Olympic champion “Deanna”. The camera showed an fearless taurasi that shook her head. Gillis quickly caught his mistake and said: “My bad one.”

Gillis then switched to another basketball star, Caitlin Clark, who had to do with an injury before the WNBA All-Star game of this weekend.

“When Caitlin Clark retires from WNBA, she will work in a waffle house so that she can continue to do what she loves the most: Faust fights against black women,” he joked. While some laughed in the audience, others seemed uncomfortable.

Gillis continued for 10 minutes and pulled a scatter of boos with jokes over Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at one point.

“Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the lawn of the White House. When he last staged a fight in DC, Mike Pence almost died,” said Gillis. Then he turned to Epstein and said: “Here should give an Epstein joke, but I think he was deleted.” Last week the Ministry of Justice and the FBI announced that a review of the case files had confirmed that Epstein had killed itself and there were no list of its customers who were published.

Gillis' performance led to mixed reviews on social media, with some praised his criticism of Trump, while others criticized the racist reference to Clark, as WNBA players were the subject of the online bigotry. Gillis was dropped live from the live line -up of Saturday Night in 2019 after Podcast film material had appeared when he made racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments. Gillis apologized at the time and said in a statement that he was “a comedian who crosses borders”, but “sometimes misses”. He returned to the host of the show in 2024.

Gillis was on a safe floor when he took a slight climb to the governing NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Canadian star, who won the NBA title with the Oklahoma City Thunder in June, has attracted criticism of fouls during the games. He smiled when Gillis said: “SGA is here. Everyone who sits around him is in bad difficulties.”

Gillis also received a good reception for a joke about the former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old friend Jordon Hudson. “A bookmaker is what Bill Belichick reads before his girlfriend's bed,” said Gillis from the 73-year-old.

Before he ended his monologue, a smiling Gillis said: “I see that many of them don't like me and that's okay. It is for me.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Simone Biles were appointed the best male and female athletes after the ceremony began. Gilgeous-Aalexander led the thunder to the first title of the franchise in Oklahoma City and at the same time led the NBA in the rating. “It is a dream that has become true and a village is taken for dreams,” he said, thanking his wife, his parents, his brother and others. “These names probably don't mean much, but for me they mean everything.”

Biles, an eleven -time Olympic medalist, also applied for the first award of the night, the best championship performance for their efforts in the Paris play. She won three gold men and a silver at the last summer Olympics. “It was very unexpected, especially in a category of all men,” said Biles, after defeating Stephen Curry, Freddie Freeman and Rory McIlroy at the championship performance award.

Suni Lee, Olympic teammate from Biles, received the best comeback price for overcoming two rare kidney diseases to help the US team gold in Paris. She brought one of her doctors to the show.