‘Saturday Night Live’ reportedly to add black female cast member in 2014
“Saturday Night Live” has yet to even get the controversy surrounding having a minority female cast member in the rear-view mirror, but they are seemingly tackling the issue head-on courtesy of some new reports.
As first reported by the blog The Jasmine Brand, the show has been secretly auditioning some of the top black female performers across the country at some secret calls. The group of women who auditioned reportedly included Darmirra Brunson, the woman who Jay Pharoah personally recommended to Lorne Michaels some time ago regarding a gig on the show, as well as Tiffany Haddish, Nicole Byer, Misty Monroe, and many other major names within the sketch world. The plan is for the new cast member to sign on in 2014.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was always a plan for the show to bring in someone new early next year to replace Seth Meyers on the cast list, which is a situation that Kate McKinnon previously found herself a part of. This is a tricky move for “SNL” to make to audition only black women for the role. On one note, it is a smart move by Lorne Michaels to fix what has been a problem for the show almost its entire history; but given the timing, there are also some that will find the move disingenuous, which is probably why these calls were being held in secret.
The person who is probably going to feel the most awkward about all of this in the end is Kenan Thompson, who said recently in a pretty controversial interview that the reason there were no black women getting cast on the show was simply because of a lack of qualified talent. Personally, we’ve always been of the standpoint that you cast who is the funniest regardless of race or gender, but we also have no problem in this instance with making sure that you do find someone to fill this role in the cast. There are so many famous black women characters that you cannot have a woman of any other race imitate for obvious reasons, and we’re never going to object to the show giving a specific minority an opportunity to shine, given the number of white men and women that are currently on board.
What do you think about this move, and is there a specific person in this group that you would love to see on board? Be sure to share your thoughts below!
Photo: NBC