Episode 197: Shane Gillis and Saturday Night Live, Saudi Arabia, and Telephone Calls

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss anti-Asian comments by comedian Shane Gillis, an attack in Saudi Arabia, and the not-so-lost art of the telephone call.

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Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: 

• Saturday Night Live hired comedian Shane Gillis and then promptly fired him when video of his racist remarks about Asian Americans and others surfaced. Niki referred to Ellen D. Wu’s book The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority. Natalia discussed Frank Sinatra’s 1945 song, “The House I Live In.”
• An attack in Saudi Arabia on the largest oil refinery in the world prompted President Trump to point fingers at Iran. Natalia referenced this Al-Jazeera timeline of US-Saudi relations.
• An Atlantic article by millennial writer Amanda Mull extolled the virtues of talking on the phone over texting. Niki referred to historian Claude Fischer’s book America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone Since 1940.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed a 1972 LIFE magazine article, “Who’s the Man in Room 7?”
• Neil commented on Coral Davenport’s New York Times article, “Trump Defends Plan to Kill California’s Auto-Emissions Authority.”
• Niki recommended Tess McClure’s Guardian article, “Dark Crystals: The Brutal Reality Behind a Booming Wellness Craze.”