As a rule, I avoid “Saturday Night Live” in favor of more entertaining pursuits, such as watching the grass grow. Last night, I broke that rule. And while what I saw confirmed my conviction not only that the show lost whatever sense of humor it had decades ago but that the writers have no grasp on the political issues they attempt to satire, I got an easy column of it.
The subject of the SNL skit is a fictional decision by cable network CNN to ban Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway because she is a conveyor of fake news. The real joke, completely lost on SNL, is that CNN would dare to pass judgment on the reliability of a prospective guest, considering its well-earned reputation as the least trusted source in cable network news.
But SNL is just getting warmed up. The bit revolves around a cast member playing CNN’s Jake Tapper heading home at the end of a workday and finding a seductively clad Conway there, waiting to seduce him. The material comes from the 1980s thriller “Fatal Attraction,” in which the seductress (played by Glenn Close) turns out to be a homicidal maniac.
The skit drew the fire of liberals, like New York magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi, who issued a fusillade of tweets after the show:
Casting Kellyanne Conway as Glenn Close was a miscalculation on SNL’s part. Will be interpreted as unfair and mean to a wife and mother.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) February 12, 2017
Prediction: the White House will use that sexist skit to dismiss all criticisms of Conway and lying more broadly.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) February 12, 2017
SNL just gave a gift to the White House with this sexist, unfunny Kellyanne Conway skit.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) February 12, 2017