Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson sparked controversy when he said they weren't finding funny, black female comediennes. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
Kerry Washington of TV’s Scandal has just signed on to guest host Saturday Night Live! The announcement that she will host Saturday Night Live on November 2 came just a day after the show came under fire for a lack of diversity.
The Talk’s Julie Chen said, “The show is getting hammered by critics, and even some of its own stars, for having zero African American women in its cast this season.”
For the sixth year in a row, there was not one black female comedienne in the new cast, which was introduced three weeks ago by Tina Fey.
But the controversy turned into an uproar earlier this week when cast member Kenan Thompson told TVGuide.com, with reference to African American female comediennes, "It's just a tough part of the business. They just never find ones that are ready."
Sherri Shepherd of The View could not believe it. She said, “You are not doing the work, if you tell me there’s no funny Black woman.”
The Talk's Aisha Tyler, who is also a stand-up comic, was outraged. She conveyed, “There are so many funny young women doing this. It's crazy to me. It's laziness. It’s laziness.”
In Saturday Night Live's 39-year history, there have only been four black female cast members, including Maya Rudolph, who left in 2007.
Surprisingly, Whoopi Goldberg once auditioned for Saturday Night Live, but nonetheless was rejected.
Whoopi confessed, “I once sent them a tape a long time ago, in the early 80's. They said, ‘No, thank you’. But you know what, it was the best thing that could happen to me.”
