<\/p>\n
Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez, the host of Wednesday night\u2019s ESPY Awards<\/a><\/span>, jumped right into the deep end in his opening monologue with a not-so-subtle jab at last year\u2019s host. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI also want to shout out last year\u2019s host, Shane Gillis<\/a>. He is watching from home like a true American,\u201d said Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cOn his couch, drinking a beer while a Hispanic guy does his job.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gillis received backlash last year after making a distasteful joke about WNBA star Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhen Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she\u2019s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist-fighting Black women,\u201d Gillis said at the time. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Aside from the Gillis joke, Hern\u00e1ndez didn\u2019t shy away from highlighting his heritage in his opening monologue, noting that he\u2019s the first Hispanic to host the ESPYs in 25 years. The \u201cSNL<\/a>\u201d cast member also took the opportunity, amid increased hostility toward immigrants in the U.S., to thank his mother, who immigrated from Cuba. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI personally think it\u2019s crazy that I get to host the ESPYs,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThis is an American dream, for a child of immigrants to host the biggest show in sports.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMy mom came to this country by herself at 20 years old; she worked as a nanny, she lived in an efficiency, which is a room attached to a house,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe paid her way through college by working during the day and going to school at night. And at her graduation, she was pregnant with me. And I just figured that if I had to hear it every day, you all could hear it once.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n