'SNL' Fires Shane Gillis After Racist Asian Jokes, He Responds

Andrew Yang's call for forgiveness is falling on deaf ears -- Shane Gillis just got his ass canned from 'SNL' before he could even appear on an episode ... following his racist joke controversy.

An 'SNL spokesperson on behalf of Lorne Michaels said after execs talked with Shane, they've decided he will NOT be joining 'SNL' for the new season. The spokesperson says, "We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL."

They went on to say, "We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

As we've reported ... Shane has been under fire for the past few days for using several racial slurs against Asians in a podcast from about a year ago. According to reports, that was just one example of him hurling racial epithets against Asians.

Some critics said a simple Google search would've easily led anyone to these past offensive remarks, and it was obvious 'SNL' brass just didn't do that with Shane.

Presidential candidate Yang weighed-in on the controversy this weekend, saying we should all forgive Shane ... adding that he did not want the guy to lose his job.

Welp ... looks like the kumbaya approach wasn't cutting it for NBC. They just cut bait and ate a little crow while doing so.

As for Shane, he responded to the news as well ... and his statement is interesting. He says, "It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are. I'm a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can't be taken away."

Shane adds, "Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I'm honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a mad tv guy anyway."

Guess that's his attempt at one last burn on his way out the door.