Viewers criticized the cold start to “Saturday Night Live” after the show mocked this week’s Congressional hearings on anti-Semitism on college campuses, hours after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. resigned amid a wave of violent reactions to his testimony.
The opening sketch, created as a C-SPAN broadcast, attempted to mock the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT, played by Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman, respectively, as they testified before the House Education Committee.
Little laughter was heard among the audience.
Viewers took to social media to criticize the sketch, which some saw as undermining the severity of incidents of anti-Semitism on college campuses in recent weeks since Israel’s war with Hamas began on October 7.
Others thought it was just bad.
Chloe Troast (left) played Rep. Elise Stefanik in the cold opener that poked fun at recent congressional hearings on anti-Semitism on college campuses. SNL/NBC
Newcomer Chloe Troast played Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, and pointed to her line of questioning during the hearing as the target of the sketch.
“I’m going to start shouting questions at these women like Billy Eichner,” he says.
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“Anti-Semitism: yes or no?” he yells at the three women. “Yes or no! Is calling for the genocide of the Jews against Harvard’s code of conduct?
“Well, it depends on the context,” Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay responds to Nwodim.
Ego Nwodim played Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay. SNL/NBC
“What? That can’t be your answer,” Troast’s Stefanik responds.
“UPenn lady, same question, yes or no?” he asks Gardner’s Magill.
“Well, we are serious about stopping all forms of hate, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” he responds. Stefanik then poses the same question to Dr. Sally Kornbluth, Fineman’s MIT president.
“If you don’t say yes, you’re going to make it look good, which is very, very difficult to do,” says Troast’s Stefanik. “So I’ll ask you directly. Do you think genocide is bad?
Fineman’s Kornbluth responds: “Could you submit a written response later?”
Chloe Fineman took on the role of MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth. SNL/NBC
“Am I winning this hearing?” Stefanik says incredulously. “Someone pinch me!”
The three chairs breathe a sigh of relief when Stefanik learns that her time is up, but another committee member gives her back her time, giving her another chance to speak.
“I am here today because hate speech has no place on college campuses. Hate speech belongs in Congress, on Elon Musk’s Twitter, in private dinners with my donors, and in the public speeches of my work husband, Donald Trump,” says Troast’s Stefanik.
The sketch also ridiculed the vague and evasive responses of academic leaders.
Heidi Gardner played University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. SNL/NBC
“Only a hate-filled, anti-Semitic SNL could do a sketch about anti-Semitic college presidents testifying before Congress and make Congresswoman Stefanik, the interrogator, the target of the sketch.” radio host Mark Simone tweeted.
“It’s quite remarkable how few laughs there were at #SNL’s Cold Open. Interestingly, they tried to write off Elise Stefanik (who by all accounts won the day) as strident. “I guess I had a misunderstanding that calling a woman ‘shrill’ was sexist,” one X user posted.
“Worst cold open on SNL I’ve ever seen, the audience barely laughed,” wrote another.
Kenan Thompson appeared as president of the online University of Phoenix. SNL/NBC
“Has to be the worst cold open I’ve ever seen on SNL, absolutely abysmal,” said another.
Another user commented: “SNL is taking a big turn in the cold and it looks like it’s going to fail…”
While it largely failed, the sketch was somewhat saved by the appearance of show veteran Kenan Thompson, who played the president of the University of Phoenix online.
“Can you take a moral stance on something? Can anyone here say yes to just one question? Shouts Stefanik from Troast.
After the cold open, people online followed the decades-old sketch show about mocking anti-Semitism on college campuses. SNL/NBC
“I’m willing to say yes to anything,” Thompson says.
“Look, look, finally. A real president of a real university,” Stefanik responds.
“Actually, that’s our school motto: U of P: We are a real university,” he responds.
His Stefanik asks him if he would promise to eliminate anti-Semitism from the school campus.
“My campus is the Internet. “Anti-Semitism is our most popular specialty and our mascot is pornography,” Thompson joked.
Meanwhile, the real Stefanik gave a blistering response when news of Magill’s resignation broke.
“One down. Two to go,” said the congresswoman. published in X.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn