‘Saturday Night Live’: Leslie Jones defends ‘controversial’ Weekend Update sketch
There were some headlines over the weekend regarding “Saturday Night Live,” but not because of anything that the show’s host Andrew Garfield did. Rather, they were more about writer Leslie Jones, who made an on-camera appearance to rant on to at first discuss topics related to image and style, only to go on a lengthy riff about slavery. Some of the jokes were a little shocking, but at the end of the day, it was humor. There was nothing any more stunning in here than what you would see in a comedy club, and everything was meant to just draw laughs.
Of course, though, many were upset about the content of what she had to say, which led in turn to Jones posting a lengthy response on her Twitter account to some of the critics. Note that we have censored some of the language here.
“Ok I wasn’t gonna say any thing because I know that dumb people know how to use the computer too, but now this is so ridiculous. Where is the rape idiots. I said nothing about rape you f***ing morons. I was talking about being match to another strong brother. Not being rape by white man. What part of this joke that wasn’t true? I would have been used for breeding straight up. That’s my reality. And it saddens me that BLACK PEOPLE b**ch and moan about the most stupid s**t. I’m a comic it is my job to take things and make them funny to make you think. Especially the painful things. Why are y’all so mad. This joke was written from the pain that one night I realized that black men don’t really f**k with me and why am I single. And that in slave days I would have always had a man cause of breeding. If anybody should be offended is white folks cause it’s what they did. Y’all so busy trying to be self righteous you miss what the joke really is. Very sad I have to defend myself to black people. Now I’m betting if Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle did that joke or jay z or Kanye put in a rap they would be called brilliant. Cause they all do this type of material. Just cause it came from a strong black woman who ain’t afraid to be real y’all mad. So here is my announcement black folks, you won’t stop me and Im gonna go even harder and deeper now. Cause it’s a shame that we kill each other instead of support each other. This exactly why black people are where we are now cause we too f***ing sensitive and instead of make lemonade out of lemons we just suck the sour juice from the lemons. Wake up.”
Drop the mic, Leslie. This is a well-thought-out statement, and there are many legitimate points in here backed up by evidence. While her subject matter here was race-oriented, the response goes down more of gender lines where female comics traditionally have a harder time being appreciated, and when they say something offensive, they are the ones who get attacked more for it. Take, for example, Amy Schumer at the Charlie Sheen Roast when she made a joke about Ryan Dunn’s death.
You can watch the video below of the sketch, and we know that there are going to be many differing opinions about it. Regardless of whether or not you laugh, hopefully you can at least appreciate the bravery that Jones put into having this be her first major “Weekend Update” appearance.
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Photo: NBC