The Brief

Asian American leaders met in Los Angeles to demand Netflix and Bud Light cut business ties with Shane Gillis unless the comic apologizes for past racist remarks.

Gillis' comments on his podcast, surfaced in 2019, led to public outcry and to him being dropped from the cast of Saturday Night Live.

But in the years since, Gillis' star has only risen, with Netflix announcing an "expanding partnership" with him that includes stand-up specials and a comedy series and Bud Light's decision to sponsor his comedy tour.

This past February, Gillis was invited back to the Saturday Night Live studio as a host.

Shane Gillis attending a New York comedy festival in 2023.

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"If you duck a few years, slowly build your career back up and continue on as if nothing had happened, you can come back even stronger than ever," said Guy Aoki, founding president of Media Action Network for Asian Americans.

Neither Gillis nor the companies have provided comment.

Gillis had issued an issued a statement after his comments drew uproar, saying "I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said."

Aoki, who in the past has taken Sarah Silverman and Jay Leno to task for racist jokes about Asians, said he was waiting for an "honest and sincere" apology from Gillis.

Aoki was joined Thursday by local leaders from longtime advocacy organizations, including the Japanese American Citizens League and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance.

Democratic Congressmember Judy Chu, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, issued a statement that was read at the press conference.

"I hope that after these years of hate and discrimination against our communities, Mr. Gillis has taken the time to reflect upon his past words and actions and will finally apologize to the Asian American community," Chu said.

On a 2018 episode of his podcast, Gillis used anti-Asian slurs and expletives to make fun of Chinese people living in Chinatown.

In the same episode, Gillis made homophobic comments about director Judd Apatow and fellow comic Chris Gethard, who are known for a more sensitive brand of comedy.

Aoki pointed out that Gillis has only apologized to Gethard.

"He will apologize for a gay slur against a straight man, but not against those slurs against Asian Americans," Aoki said, noting Gillis used the same anti-Asian slur on a different podcast to describe former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. "We don't appreciate the double standard."

The Asian American leaders held their event about Gillis at the Chinese American Citizens Alliance lodge in Chinatown.

Henry Lo, the vice president of the L.A. chapter of the alliance, said it was not lost on the group that this month marks the 41st anniversary of Vincent Chin's killing. Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two autoworkers, with one of the attackers saying it was “because of you” that people were out of work.

"Words and actions have consequences," said Lo, who's also a Monterey Park council member. "When we do not call out slurs and language that perpetuate Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners, then it runs the danger of inflaming fear, hatred, and in some cases, violence directed at Asian Americans."

Cindy Wu of the Anti-Asian Hate Coalition of Southern California, was among the speakers who worried that Asian American children would feel the brunt of racist language from peers who take the lead of adults.

"When [children] hear racial slurs, or do derogatory remarks in the name of comedy, it can only normalize hatred and prejudice," said Wu, who said she's received a couple reports this year of Asian American children in L.A. County being called anti-Asian slurs and beaten.

Gillis' new Netflix comedy series Tires has been one of the streamer's top 10 shows since it debuted in late May, and was renewed for a second season even before its premiere. A new stand-up special will come out in 2025.

Catherine O’Hara, best known for her roles in Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice and Home Alone, died Friday after a brief illness.

While O’Hara was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for just one week, she got her big break as an original cast member of the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television (or SCTV), alongside Eugene Levy, who’d become a frequent co-star.

Her comedic genius, musical prowess and complete dedication to the characters she portrayed appeared in dozens of films and television shows over her over 50-year acting career, from voicing the speaking and singing roles of Sally and Shock in The Nightmare Before Christmas, to the inexplicable dialect created for Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek, to the sobering performance of a therapist practicing in a post apocalyptic world in The Last of Us.

Here are some of those essential O’Hara performances that highlighted her comedic genius and made her so iconic.

‘Perma-Lacque’ commercial (SCTV)

O’Hara had her hand in many roles across her eight-year long tenure in SCTV. One that still makes the rounds on social media is “the woman with indestructible hair.” Note the utter seriousness in her performance that sells the joke!

Herb Ertlinger’s fruit wine commercial (Schitt’s Creek)

A favorite O’Hara moment as her beloved Schitt’s Creek character Moira Rose is when she delivers a performance of "craftsmanship" and “quality” for a TV commercial on fruit wine. Has anyone ever mispronounced words so perfectly?

“Day-O” scene (Beetlejuice)

If you want a master class in lip syncing, look no further than O’Hara as Delia Deetz singing “Day-O,” while possessed at the dinner table in 1988’s Beetlejuice. Her body and lips are in sync, while her eyes give a whole other performance of panic!

O’Hara’s ‘Kevin!’ screams (Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

It wouldn’t be a complete list without including O’Hara playing one of our favorite 90’s on-screen moms screaming “Kevin!” to the camera. The original is iconic, but we might prefer her delivery in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Who else could play a mom who forgets her kid twice and we still love her?!

A mighty kiss (A Mighty Wind)

In the 2003 Christopher Guest mockumentary A Mighty Wind, O’Hara plays Mickey Crabbe, one half of a now broken-up married folk duo. A climax of the film is when Crabbe and Mitch Cohen (played by Eugene Levy) reunite onstage, performing their song “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow.” As the audience waits with baited breath, they share a poignant kiss. It’s a feel-good moment and a Julia Paskin favorite!

Thousands of protesters began assembling in downtown Los Angeles Friday afternoon in one of several planned demonstrations calling for the withdrawal of federal immigration agents.

The downtown protest officially started at 1 p.m. in front of City Hall.

It’s one of several “ICE Out” events expected in the L.A. region and around the country Friday and Saturday in response to the Trump administration’s immigration actions, which many have described as overreaching and unconstitutional.

Crowds of protesters participate in an "Ice Out" demonstration in downtown Los Angeles.

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Other local protests are planned in Santa Monica, Culver City, Torrance, El Monte, Monrovia and Pasadena.

The protests are also in response to the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti — both fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis — and the deaths of people held in ICE custody.

People partake in a "National Shutdown" protest against ICE in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 30, 2026.

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Charly Triballeau

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By mid-afternoon, there appeared to be as many as 5,000 thousand people or more assembled downtown. Initially, many people gathered on Spring Street in front of City Hall and around a flatbed truck that was being used as a makeshift stage.

Later, the crowd moved along Temple Street toward the Metropolitan Detention Center. Shortly before 3 p.m., many people were heading toward Chinatown.

Many carried signs with the words, "ICE OUT" and other pointed messages referencing the immigration raids and President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 to protest immigration raids and the fatal shootings of two people in Minneapolis by federal agents.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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There did not appear to be a large law enforcement presence early Friday afternoon. LAist reporters spotted a few Los Angeles city police and county sheriff's vehicles around the crowd perimeter.

Matt Carlin, 48, of Los Angeles said he decided to participate in the protests because he believes "a line has been crossed" by federal authorities, whom he repeatedly called "fascists" and accused of acting as secret police. He said the deaths in Minnesota were "disgusting" and "upsetting," but were the logical progression of an administration that wants to rule by fear.

"It's unacceptable and it's time for people to stand up," he told LAist. "And I think doing it on a weekday sends a stronger message, and not shopping and not getting on Facebook and Instagram."

He said it's important to show supporters of the Trump administration that "we're serious about this."

Protesters descend on L.A. City Hall Jan. 30, 2026.

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Genaro Molina

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Uma Sanasaryan, 50, said she is originally from the former Soviet Union. She said she has seen people get "snatched up" in her Atwater Village neighborhood — a violation of human rights.

"I am an immigrant myself and we literally escaped Soviet tyranny to come to the United States so that we could feel free and have the freedom of speech and, you know, the ability to pursue our dreams," she said. "To do things with our lives that we could never do anywhere else."

She said the country where she came to build her American Dream "collapse in the last 10 years" is "horrific."

Sanasaryan noted she is a naturalized citizen, but that doesn't ease her concern.

"They could come for me they could come for anyone," she said. "It doesn't matter anymore."

The Department of Homeland Security has said immigration agents were targeting violent criminals, but there has been ample evidence to the contrary.

Reports released last year noted that about half of the thousands of people held in ICE custody had no criminal convictions.

This is a developing story and will be updated.