SNL's Michael Che Goes Undercover as a Liberal White Woman Named Gretchen
In this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live, Michael Che, who co-hosts “Weekend Update,” went undercover as a liberal white woman named Gretchen, and the result is pretty much gold. Che has been known to make waves with some of his jokes and comments on and off the show, but he says the hate mail he receives in response is overwhelmingly from “super liberal white women.”
So in an effort to understand things from their perspective, Che went on a hilarious mission to go undercover as a liberal white woman—complete with research (reading Yelp and Lena Dunham‘s book, listening to “the most ignorant rap music” he could find) and a makeover (sporting a long blond wig, Warby Parker glasses, scarves…but no makeup)—and headed off to brunch to see what life is like as a liberal white woman.
Che learned that some stereotypes and generalizations about white women—and in some cases, all women—aren’t, well, completely inaccurate. He did come away with a few #tooreal observations, like: “Maybe they do eat a lot of pizza…and a lot of salads to balance out the pizza.” While in undercover mode, Che also encountered some of the privileges upper-middle-class white women stereotypically benefit from, like randomly receiving money in the mail from their parents and drinking wine during the day without judgment.
But he also experienced some of the downsides and frustrations of being a woman, regardless of race, political affiliation, or economic status. Che encountered—and successfully challenged—a manspreader on the subway, something all of us who take public transportation have experienced countless times.
At a dinner party, he was mansplained to by a white guy claiming that “white men have it just as hard as anybody else,” to which he responded, “Check your privilege, dude!” And when Che found himself alone in an elevator with a man (in his case the man in question was episode host James Franco, so not quite a realistic moment, but still), he reacted the way many of us feel like doing in uncomfortable situations—by hugging his purse in front of his body and turning the other direction.
Che also calls out his girlfriends gushing about Meghan Markle’s engagement ring, saying “I just feel like the monarchy is literally the patriarchy. And as a liberal white woman, I can’t support that sh*t.”
Watch the full video, below:
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