Saturday Night Live (SNL) sparked controversy with its recent cold opening, which parodied the congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Last week, the House Education Committee conducted a hearing to address the rising anti-Semitism that is taking place on college campuses. The hearing included the presidents of three major universities: Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The sketch focused on the viral exchanges between members of the House Education Committee, including Representative Elise Stefanik, and university presidents who refrained from denouncing anti-Semitic rhetoric on their campuses.
In the skit, Chloe Troast played Representative Elise Stefanik, who grilled the university leaders. But SNL seemingly put more emphasis on condemning Stefanik’s demeanor than the actual responses by these college presidents.
At one point, Troast’s character sarcastically stated, “I am here today because hate speech has no place on college campuses. Hate speech belongs in Congress, on Elon Musk’s Twitter, in private dinners with my donors, and in public speeches by my work husband Donald Trump.” Ironically, the segment was aired just hours after UPenn president Liz Magill resigned from her position after the backlash from her congressional hearing.
Following the airing of SNL’s latest episode, Stefanik’s senior advisor made a statement explaining that the congresswomen’s office received thousands of messages from individuals who were “appalled and disgusted by the anti-Semitic trash spewed” by SNL.
“SNL made history with the worst cold open ever because everyone knows there is absolutely no humor in the vile answers from the university presidents regarding their failure to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people,” Stefanik’s senior advisor claimed in a statement to the New York Post.
It was also reported that SNL star Cecily Strong, initially slated to play Stefanik, withdrew from the sketch due to feeling “uncomfortable” with the way it was written.
