The call went out to key improv hubs mid-summer: Saturday Night Live was scouting for new talent—specifically, women of color.
It’s not clear whether the show had an inkling at that point that Ego Nwodim wouldn’t be returning for Season 51 (reports coinciding with her announcement Friday suggest she only recently made the decision), but even with her still on board, the show clearly had a diversity gap—one that it was looking to fill.
It wouldn’t be the first time. Representation has long been an Achilles’ heel for Saturday Night Live, never more visibly than in the fall of 2013, when critics took Lorne Michaels and team to task over the show’s complete lack of Black women cast members. In response, SNL held a midseason showcase audition for only Black women—an unusual move in terms of scope and timing. That audition led to the midseason addition of Sasheer Zamata, who joined the show in January 2014. Since then, the cast has featured at least one Black woman, and often multiple women of color each season.
Not so this year. Yes, the show’s cast has Michael Che, Marcello Hernández, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, and newcomer Kam Patterson—all men of color. But with Ego Nwodim’s departure, not a single woman.
So what happened this summer with that call for women of color? LateNighter has learned that by mid-August, when SNL held in-studio auditions, five out of the 15 people tested were non-male people of color. Three were Black women. None ended up among the show’s five new additions to the cast.
It remains to be seen whether Ego Nwodim’s departure will result in any new additions to the show’s cast. It’s conceivable the show might add another featured player from the 15 who auditioned in August. Alternatively, it might promote a member of its writing staff (writer/performers KC Shornima, Asha Ward, and Auguste White are all women of color). Or, as it did in 2013, it could cast its net wider, holding a new round of midseason auditions.
With Lorne Michaels set to attend this weekend’s Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, it’s a safe bet he’ll be asked. We’ll keep you posted.
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What about the men-women gap?
Does this show need to have twice as many men than women? And that was before Ego left.
This show is not about DEI, parity, equal rights, gender acceptance etc. Why are you making it to be one?
Why are you ignorant fuck faced righties so obsessed over race and gender and sexuality? Do non white males upset your delicate fee-fees, toddler?
Stop being such a homo
Let’s not make assumptions about ppl. I campaigned for Kamala Harris and 100% believed she would make a great president but I never cared about BLM and don’t subscribe to identity politics. I also felt the show had too much pressure to hire minorities in the 2015-2020 era of wokeness, but I think they probably could use a couple more.
Stop projecting your homosexuality onto others, and accept who you are, Bradley Bummer! You’ll start feeling much better about yourself not having to live a lie!😉😁
Okey Dokey, Orrin!🙄😒
why not rlease their names, then we can have fun looking up their material?
Insert “Oh No Anyway” meme
Insert “You’re A Special Kind Of Stupid, Aren’t You?” meme to reply to the stupid racist Mark Anderson, peoples!😈
Who cares? Maybe they weren’t that funny. Why do you have to make everything about race? Give it a rest and let the country heal.
Look at Michael Dee, folks! An easily triggered beta cuck that breaks down whenever something wrong happens to a POC! Lets all marvel at the patheticness of this whinny little bitchole who gets all sad at being pointed out racism still exists, and laugh at that fucking loser!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The only “whinny” (nice spelling, stupid), triggered little bitch here is you, you fucking dummy. You’re the only one here losing your shit over every comment like a hysterical woman. Shut the fuck up and fuck off.
Awww, did duh widduwl hate filled MAGAt have uh mad at me? Awww, poor widduwl wacist sexist, homophobic weetawd of Drumpf’s! Yew gonno go cwy in Daddy Fat Fuck’s lap? Boo-fucking-hoo!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
BTW, whiny and whinny are both acceptable, you retarded cunt!🖕😈🖕
Not MAGA just hate soft as shit faggots like you, you fucking dummy. Go dilate and shut your cocksucker, cunt.
Also, “whinny” is the sound a horse makes, you fucking brainless cretin. It is not “acceptable” to use it in place of whiny, you dumb fuck. Go back to school and study something other than Trans Studies or whatever garbage you wasted your parents money on, you fucking waste of oxygen.