Saturday Night Live joined the ranks of entertainment programs being called out for not commenting on sexual harassment allegations against former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Social media users skewered the decades old live sketch comedy show, with many highlighting the programs hypocrisy in not going after one of Hollywood’s biggest players.
‘Why didn’t big mouth Michael Che’ say anything about Harvey Weinstein on SNL “Weekend Update”? He’s got so much opinion about everything else,’ Pastor Darrell Scott asked contentiously.
Saturday Night Live joined the ranks of entertainment programs being called out for not attacking Harvey Weinstein
Che is the co-anchor of the well-known Weekend Update segment on the show.
Weinstein was the subject of an explosive New York Times article that claimed the Mirimax studio head had a decades-long history of sexually harassing female employees.
Weinstein had already indicated on Thursday in his written statement in which he acknowledged his behavior in the past had caused ‘a lot of pain’ that he was taking a leave of absence.
In another tweet, one person commented: T’hat is why the political left is OK w/ abandoning but the celebrity left (SNL,late night hosts) isn’t.’
Harvey Weinstein and Tina Fey arrive at the 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2012
Weinstein is accused of habitually harassing women over a three decade span and has reportedly settled eight different lawsuits
Social media users skewered the decades old live sketch comedy show, with many accusing the show of hypocrisy
‘Really?! NO mention of Harvey on SNL WeekendUpdate?,’ another user wrote. ‘This is starting to feel like a conspiracy…’
SNL, however, did cover a number of other relevant topics from the week.
Saturday Night Live ditched its traditional comedic cold open on Saturday in favor of a solemn tribute by country music star Jason Aldean to both the victims of last Sunday night’s massacre in Las Vegas as well as late rocker Tom Petty.
Aldean was in the middle of performing on stage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last Sunday night when Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on the 22,000 people in the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Petty died this week from cardiac arrest. He was 66 years old.
With OJ Simpson’s release from prison after serving nine years for armed robbery, Saturday Night Live took the opportunity to imagine what a Bumble date would look like for the former football great.
Kenan Thompson played Simpson on a date with a young European woman – portrayed by SNL host, actress Gal Gadot – from a war-torn country that wasn’t able to receive news about his double-murder trial in the 1990s.
Sam Smith was also this week’s musical guest, performing two heartfelt songs from his latest album ‘The Thrill of it All.’
The silence by Hollywood concerning one of their own has been overlooked by few.
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., took to Twitter to first dare Oscars-host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel to comment on the scandal, writing: ‘Thoughts on Weinstein? #askingforafriend.’
Kimmel had just poked fun at Donald Trump for complaining about the ‘unfunny’ late night hosts who constantly berated him.
Jimmy Kimmel has faced criticism along with fellow late night TV hosts Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon
He swiftly responded to Trump Jr.’s challenge but didn’t take exactly take the bait, instead retorting with a quip about how the New York Times – the Trumps’ media nemesis – broke the Weinstein story.
SNL cast memeber Kate McKinnon speaks onstage during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016
‘You mean that big story from the failing, liberal, one-sided New York Times? I think it is disgusting,’ he responded.
Ramping up the tone of their exchange, Kimmel fired another tweet with a clip of his father’s infamous 2005 Access Hollywood ‘grab them by the p***y’ tape’.
Kimmel has faced criticism along with fellow late night TV hosts Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon for not making mention of the Weinstein scandal in their shows this week.
Actress Rose McGowan has slammed the women of Hollywood for their silence.
Demanding to know where the ‘ladies of Hollywood’ were on this issue, McGowan – who is believed to have been paid a $100,000 settlement by Weinstein after an incident in the mid-1990s – appeared to attack the mute A-listers.
Indeed, A-list actresses like Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow who have used their fame to encourage and support women and who have worked with Weinstein have said nothing.
They are not alone in their silence either, as many other women who have sang the praises of Weinstein while speaking out against harassment also went mute as of Friday afternoon, including: Kate Hudson, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz, Toni Collette, Minnie Driver and Uma Thurman.
Given the number of lawsuits that the company has settled over the years there is of course a chance that some of these women cannot speak because they signed a NDA or do not want to speak on account of their own personal experiences.
On Friday, four board members including Weinstein’s brother Bob, said that it was ‘important for him to get professional help’ as they confirmed he was leaving the company he co-founded.
They left it unclear how long he would be gone, only saying that the ‘next steps depend on Harvey’s therapeutic progress, the outcome of the Board’s independent investigation and Harvey’s own personal decisions’.