Saturday Night Live’s Unfunny Sketch Attempts to Skewer Antisemitism Hearings, Fails Miserably
Over the weekend, Saturday Night Live’s opening skit focused on last week’s congressional hearings on anti-Semitism on college campuses and the disgusting testimony by the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and MIT.
The villains, according to SNL?
Not the university presidents turned antisemitism apologists.
Instead, the unfunny sketch positioned Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Republicans as the primary villains.
SNL’s Chloe Troast portrayed Stefanik and screamed nearly all of her questions.
“Anti-Semitism yay or nay! Yes or no! Is calling for the genocide of Jews against the code of conduct for Harvard?!”
Troast followed the university heads’ rambling answers with, “Keep in mind, if you don’t say yes, you’re going to make me look good — which is really, really hard to do.”
The awkward skit did not seem to resonate with the live audience either. Laughter was sparse and tepid at best.
Critics slammed SNL on X:
Saturday Night Live hates Republicans more than antisemitism
@RepStefanik#SNL #Harvard #MIT #UPenn https://t.co/qL9MOvtYd1
— heather nauert (@HeatherNauert) December 10, 2023
The biggest story of the week was how 3 university presidents were universally panned for their testimony so much so that one has already resigned.
SNL’s takeaway? *Stefanik* was the one who embarrassed herself.
We get it, “GOP bad.” But my lord this really misses the mark. https://t.co/fd5OoOaRkK
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) December 10, 2023
“Saturday Night Live” Started Last Night With One Of The Worst Cold Openings In The Show’s History https://t.co/Mm6VmXCOiE pic.twitter.com/dDwDc9fr00
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 10, 2023
The Gateway Pundit reported that the House Education Committee invited the leaders of MIT, Harvard, and Penn to testify in front of Congress last week.
During their testimony, Rep. Stefanik asked the educators if calling for the genocide of Jews violates the code of conduct on their campuses.
Not one of the campus leaders could answer the question.
The university leaders smugly suggested that calling for the genocide of Jews isn’t necessarily against their code against harassment and bullying on campus. Penn president Liz Magill even suggested it was not a violation unless it led to actual genocide.
Magill resigned from her position over the weekend after an emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday.
Stefanik asked Harvard’s President Claudine Gay, “You understand that the use of the term intifada in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the State of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews… And there have been multiple marches at Harvard with students chanting quote ‘There is only one solution, intifada revolution’ and quote ‘Globalize the intifada.’ Is that correct?”
Gay responded, “I’ve heard that thoughtless, reckless and hateful language on our campus, yes,” calling it “abhorrent” and “hateful speech.”
When specifically pressed on whether calls for “intifada,” direct support for the genocide of Jewish people, violated Harvard’s code of conduct, Gay weakly replied that it “depends on the context.”
Billboard trucks were sent to Harvard’s New England Campus on Sunday, demanding Gay be fired.
The New York Post reports that former SNL star Cecily Strong, who appeared as Stefanik in the dress rehearsal ahead of the live show, backed out last minute because she was “uncomfortable” with the sketch.
Watch below:
