Read a List of New FCC Complaints About Saturday Night Live

Though the number pales in comparison to the groundswell of FCC complaints generated by Kamala Harris’ appearance the weekend before Election Day, Saturday Night Live has continued to generate FCC complaints into the new year.

In a new batch of complaints obtained by LateNighter via a FOIA request, SNL‘s 50th anniversary special and Dave Chappelle episode were two recent flashpoints, but it was a”Weekend Update” segment during January’s Timothée Chalamet-hosted episode that seemed to draw the most outrage.

In the segment, Ego Nwodim is introduced by Michael Che as a businesswoman named Giselle who is concerned about Trump’s executive orders and tariffs. “Black women: If you are watching this and you are a Black woman, it is time to act,” she says, before revealing what that action is. “Buy all the hair and extensions you need before those tariffs kick in.”

Giselle goes on to lament that Black women will no longer be able to get Malaysian, Peruvian, Indian, or Brazilian hair, explaining to Che that she’s bald under her current wig. “[Trump]’s about to have me looking like chocolate Caillou in a Prada suit,” she tells Che.

One complainant deemed the bit “racially charged and insensitive.” 

“SNL uses their black cast to express their hatred and disdan [sic] for black women and girls, darker black women and girls to be exact,” they wrote. “If this were any other group their disgusting racist trops [sic] wouldn’t see the light of day.”

“It was extremely racist and it’s pathetic that this was allowed to air,” said another. “This just perpetuates the harmful rhetoric about African American women and makes our lives more difficult for no reason.”

“I can take a joke but to go as far and have black womens [sic] looks talked about in such a disgusting and untrue manner is really sickening,” read another complaint.

SNL’s 50th anniversary special also received handful of complaints, Unsurprisingly, given the social media reaction it received, Tom Hanks‘ reprisal of his Trump supporter character who is afraid to shake hands with a Black man prompted some blowback. The moment “was incredibly indecent as it implied all Trump supporters are racist,” wrote one.

“This hate promotes violence on Trump and his supporters,” wrote another. “Why is this being allowed?”

Meanwhile, Robert De Niro’s appearance in the special drew complaints of its own, for De Niro uttering the word “godd*mn.” (The FCC fielded similar complaints when SNL used the word last year.)

While a handful of other sketches that SNL has aired since the start of the calendar yeilded complaints, nearly all of them were from the January episode hosted by Dave Chappelle.

In “Evacuation Alert,” Chappelle cuts open his pet dog to retrieve a cell phone hidden inside it, causing blood to spray everywhere. According to one viewer, that stabbing of the stuffed dog was “simulating animal cruelty.” Another viewer took umbrage at Chappelle’s smoking a cigarette during his monologue. 

And during that episode’s “Immigrant Dad Talk Show 2” sketch, a father (Mikey Day) kissing his son (Andrew Dismukes) on the lips was called by one viewer “a homosexual pedophile kiss.”

The full cache of FCC complaints about SNL going back to December can be viewed in its entirety below: