Saturday Night Live is known for its sharp takes on news and culture—and its willingness to skewer people, particularly disgraced people, in power. So many were surprised when, last week, the long-running series opted not to cover the unfolding Harvey Weinstein scandal in its October 7 episode, which took place two days after the New York Times published its explosive report detailing allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate conduct committed by Weinstein. After a week of more revelations, eyes were once again on SNL last night.
Granted, it’s hard for a comedic, satirical show to find the appropriate way to cover sexual assault. SNL wound up addressing the allegations against Weinstein in two skits. The first was via a faux actors panel about sexual harassment in Hollywood with Cecily Strong playing Marion Cotillard, Leslie Jones as Viola Davis, Kate McKinnon returning as Debette Goldry, and Aidy Bryant as the panel’s moderator (playing an editor from Glamour.com, no less). Together the four women walked a fine line between serious and funny with Bryant, Jones, and Strong playing the straight types to McKinnon’s fiery shot thrower.
“I actually did have one meeting with Harvey, OK?” McKinnon’s character says when the conversation turns to Weinstein. “I was invited to his hotel room, and when I arrived, he was naked, hanging upside down from a monkey bar. He tried to trick me into thinking his genitals were actually his face. It almost worked—the resemblance is uncanny.”
The characters then go on to discuss why sexual assault keeps happening and the role that other men play in these crimes by failing to speak up. When Bryant’s character mentions the “whisper system” that women use to warn one another about threatening men, McKinnon-as-Goldry says “Back then we had a secret code among us actresses to warn each other about the creeps. The code was, ‘He raped me.’ That way if men were listening they would tune us right out, easy peasy.”
The “whisper system” is a very real thing: in the original Times report, actress Ashley Judd confirmed that “women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.”
The sketch also touches on the “father of daughters” line that often gets thrown around by men when they speak out about sexual harassment and discrimination against women. As Strong-as-Cotillard said (with just the right amount of outrage): “You should be upset because you’re a human being.”
That’s when McKinnon comes in with a cutting line of her own: “Having a lady in the family doesn’t make you some kind of hero. I mean, even Hitler had a sister.”
Watch the full skit below:
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The “Weekend Update” guys also kicked off their segment with the Weinstein allegations, with Colin Jost announcing that Weinstein was going to sex addiction rehab. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to help anybody,” says Jost. “He doesn’t need sex rehab. He needs a specialized facility where there are no women, no contact with the outside world, metal bars, and it’s a prison.”
Co-host Michael Che then ripped into the mogul’s plea for the movie industry to give him a second chance because “we all make mistakes.”
“No, man, a mistake is me walking into the wrong bathroom and using it anyway because I was crowning,” says Che. “You assaulted dozens of women. That’s not a mistake—that’s a full season of Law & Order. Your name’s a verb now. As in, ‘If this guy tries to Weinstein me, I’m going to cut off his little Harvey.'”
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For the record, Weinstein’s legal team has denied the claims, issuing a statement via a spokesperson stating, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
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–These Are All the Women Who Have Accused Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment and Assault
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–’30 Rock’ Called Out Harvey Weinstein Five Years Ago
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