Saturday Night Live kicked off its 39th season last month with host Tina Fey and musical guest Arcade Fire, along with six new castmembers. However, according to the website Zap2It, the new additions showed that SNL producer Lorne Michaels “has a diversity problem” — the six are all white, with only one woman. This criticism has been voiced before; during SNL’s nearly four decades on air, only four black women have been included as cast members. But the controversy took on new life following a recent interview with castmember Kenan Thompson.
As TV Guide reported on October 14:
Instead of blaming showrunner Lorne Michaels or the series, which currently only employs three actors of color out of 16 cast members (Thompson, [Jay] Pharaoh, and the Iranian Nasim Pedrad), Thompson blames the lack of quality black female comedians. “It’s just a tough part of the business,” Thompson says. “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.”
However, the article adds, Pharoah “has recently spoken out about the series’ diversity problem, telling theGrio, ‘They need to pay attention [and add a black woman to the cast] … I believe they need to follow up with it like they said they were going to do last year.’” Pharoah even mentioned one actress in particular, Darmirra Brunson, star of the sitcom Love Thy Neighbor.
Debra Wilson, a former MadTV castmember and comedian, shared her thoughts on the lack of diversity in the SNL cast during a recent CNN interview. As Wilson said, if women of color who have auditioned have not met the criteria for making the cut, then Michaels and company have every right not to cast them. However, Wilson said, “If the issue is that women of color are not funny … that’s not the case.”
What effect this will have on future casting selections remains to be seen, but the eyes of the comedy world — and beyond — will be watching closely during the years to come.