I said my piece on this earlier, but we’re going to talk about it again because this brings up a couple things I hadn’t considered. One is that Katie Rich may not have been mocking Barron Trump at all and that even if she was, SNL isn’t exactly in a position to claim any sort of moral high ground.
Now that we’ve dispensed with the contents of the joke, let’s take a look at SNL’s extremely gross history when it comes to abusers.
Alec Baldwin has just been announced as prepping for his record breaking 17th hosting gig, largely due to his Donald Trump impression.
Alec Baldwin also wrote a book on Men’s Rights because he couldn’t get everything he wanted in his contentious divorce. Alec Baldwin also famously verbally abused his daughter on voicemail. That episode happened in 2007. He has been asked to be host twice since that event and been asked to guest dozens of times.
Where was the outcry over an actual child abuser participating in the show?
It’s also important to point out SNL’s sexism when it comes to these types of things. Recently, an anti-trans joke was made on Weekend Update and no one really cared. That joke actually made it on the show, meaning it made it past 2 table reads, a rehearsal and a taping and wasn’t cut for broadcast.
Then there’s the unfortunate fact that Mike Myers and Dana Carvey made fun of Chelsea Clinton’s looks when she was 10 years old. Mike Myers went on to become a billionaire and Lorne could not have been more pleased with the receipts for Wayne’s World the movie.
That Chelsea Clinton joke was made on the show in the first half hour (the most prized slot) and resulted in precisely zero firings.
There’s more, complete with links to everything.
Seriously, the only person who doesn’t look bad in this situation is Katie Rich, and I hope that from all of this stupidity will come many better opportunities for her.
