Gillis was hired as a featured player in 2019 and fired days later after videos resurfaced of him making racial slurs on his podcast

"When he came back to the show last year [to host], we saw, 'Oh right, he’s really talented, and he would’ve been really good for us.'"

Creator Lorne Michaels said that the long-running sketch show’s milestone 50th season will be no different, adding that he sees the weeks ahead of the election in November as an opportunity to invite some beloved former cast members back to Studio 8H.