In the first Saturday Night Live show following Joe Biden‘s inauguration, the cast refrained from comedy sketches portraying the president and vice president, The Daily Mail reported.
John Krasinski—Jim from NBC’s The Office—hosted SNL’s inaugural 2021 episode, a prime time to joke about gaffe-prone Biden and historically unpopular Kamala Harris.
For the past five years, SNL relentlessly directed jokes at President Donald Trump while only mildly poking fun at Democrat politicians — occasionally.
Instead of a skit with Biden and Harris, the cast mocked obscure first-term Rep. Marjorie Greene, who has been the target of a media attack due to unwavering support for Trump, the Washington Post reported.
Kate McKinnon as herself asked Cecily Strong as Greene, “Those are real things you believe and tell other people about?,” in reference to Greene’s alleged belief in QAnon.
“Uh-huh,” Strong replied.
Actors also portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
The show’s audience noted the eerie absence of presidential political comedy, at the same time that the military occupies the nation’s capital.
Zero Biden jokes to kick off SNL. Who thought that would happen?
— Dom Giordano (@DomShow1210) January 31, 2021
Im impressed it took @nbcsnl multiple wks to come up w/ less political acts & to figure out how not to make fun of #Biden cause they support him. #SNL is still a snoozefest. Political skits or not. pic.twitter.com/zFdixxEni6
— Megan? (@MeganFeller) January 31, 2021
Left-wing viewers disliked the episode for a different reason: its failure to be sufficiently woke about men kissing.
Krasinski and co-host Pete Davidson kissed.
I didn’t watch SNL last night, but from what I gathered, I missed:
– One homophobic joke, where straight men kissed for laughs
– One transphobic jokeIn short, I made the right call.
— Eric Crumrine (@ECrumrine) January 31, 2021
I completely agree it’s a dumb dated joke, all I’m mostly focused on is this article and its headline. SNL needs to work on its diversity, I’m obviously not the first to say that. In order to actually talk about the problem of the joke and start a dialogue, maybe give context
— Max Makes Movies (@maxmakesmovies_) February 1, 2021
