In a now viral video posted to TikTok, a user who goes by the name Jahelis makes the truly wild declaration that in just under 50 years, "Saturday Night Live" has never cast a "hot woman" as part of the show's core ensemble. And the reactions to that swing and miss have not been favorable.
"They all just kind of have looks that eventually grow on you,” Jahelis says, using current cast member Heidi Gardner as her first example although, in the clip, she blanks on her name while repeatedly using the word "skit" when it should be "sketch." Being that "Saturday Night Live" is a sketch comedy show and all.
"They make every skit that she's in — at least one skit per episode she's in — being like where she plays someone super hot and super dumb and the point of the joke is that she's super pretty. And it always makes me laugh because, no offense to her, but she's not that pretty," she says of Gardner, later adding, "Why don't they hire better looking people? It's TV?"
Jumping to the defense of Gardner, the ghost of Gilda Radner and themselves, cast members Chloe Troast and Sarah Sherman fired back at Jahelis' comments.
"Just found out i’m not hot. Please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time," Sherman said in a post to X (formerly Twitter.)
just found out i’m not hot. please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time. https://t.co/YXvXMGvbYN
— SARAH SQUIRM (@SarahSquirm) April 1, 2024
Sharing the video to Instagram as she sang Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Troast offered Jahelis the two-bird salute.
“I never expected that video to go viral,” the content creator said in a statement following the backlash. “Had I known, I would’ve maybe articulated myself a little bit better. I was expecting to have a dialogue with my community, who is used to my unfiltered opinions that rarely come from a place of malice.”
