Backlash Brewing Against ‘SNL’ Sketch on University Antisemitism Hearing

Will Heath/NBC via Getty
Will Heath/NBC via Getty

A steady and fierce backlash has been brewing against Saturday Night Live over its recent sketch lampooning the U.S. Congressional hearing with Ivy League university presidents about the growing wave of antisemitism on campus.

As Breitbart News reported over the weekend, the sketch often trolled the “consistently opaque answers offered by three academic leaders in their testimony at a House hearing on antisemitism” while also skewering Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik despite the fact she asked serious questions about calls for genocide against Jews on college campuses.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also drew criticism on the SNL segment, even though she was the one actively challenging antisemitism, which featured Claudine Gay, Sally Kornbluth, and Liz Magill—the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively—who testified in front of Congress on Tuesday about the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents on college campuses across America (including their own) since the Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7.

The sketch did not receive a warm welcome online, with people calling it offensive and wrong. Here are some of the hottest of the hot takes.

Elise Stefanik’s office released a statement as well, calling the sketch “unfunny” and “morally bankrupt.”

“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,” said senior advisor Alex DeGrasse.

According to the Daily Mail, “a top advisor for the leadership Republican told DailyMail.com that although Stefanik did not watch the skit, her office has been ‘flooded’ with messages from Republicans and Democrats who were ‘appalled and disgusted by the antisemitic trash spewed by unfunny, morally bankrupt’ comedians.”

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature filmEXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.

Authored by Paul Bois via Breitbart December 11th 2023