Ahead of this week’s Saturday Night Live episode, a lot of fans wondered if the show would comment on the Cornell 7. The sketch comedy institution has built its reputation on addressing the social issues everyone is talking about, but given the sensitive and legal nature of the case, which involves allegations of sexual assault and questions about consent, morality, drug use and duty of care, many suspected the writers would avoid the issue altogether. Let the record show they did not. Michael Che addressed the case and used it as an opportunity to dunk on Colin Jost and his Ivy League education.
The joke in question happened during Weekend Update. Che referenced the case and said it’s time for men to start holding other men accountable. He said we all know of friends who seem like a nice guy but definitely are not. As he was talking, however, the camera kept cutting to Jost, making it seem like his co-anchor was actually the person he was talking about. That became especially clear when he brought up “weird privileged Ivy League types,” as Jost graduated from Harvard.
Obviously, we don’t want to make light of anything that happened, but it is a good time to talk about men holding other men accountable. Look, we all have that one friend that seems like a nice guy, but you know they’re definitely not. It can be someone you’re close to or someone you work with. Maybe you can’t prove anything, but you can just look at him and tell those weird privileged Ivy League types always got some messed up stuff going on.
Some of the funniest jokes play very differently based on whether you’re reading them or seeing the actual footage, and this joke is a great example of that. I love that if you weren’t watching the actual show, you would have no idea Che was actually dunking on his co-anchor (which he does a lot). You would think he was just offering commentary on the Cornell 7 case and taking some shots at kids at elite universities.
You can watch the actual footage from Weekend Update below, which starts at the 3:40 mark.
You never quite know how SNL is going to handle social issues, divisive legal cases and even politics. There are times in which the show tries to offer really daring commentary. There are times it takes the easy joke everyone else is making, and there are times like this in which it talks about the controversy but does so in a way that moves the target onto someone else entirely. It’s never a one size fits all solution.
Regardless, last night’s Saturday Night Live had a lot to offer outside Weekend Update. Friend of the show Dakota Johnson hosted for the third time and brought Taylor Swift alongside her for a fun cameo during her monologue. She also delivered some really fun and out there sketches including one where she played a really mean girlfriend and another where she played a doctor encouraging a woman not to sing to a family member in a coma because it wasn’t going to help. I’d definitely encourage you to check out the full episode.
The show will return next week with host Shane Gillis before taking a break for a few weeks and returning on Halloween.
