Saturday Night Live's Michael Che finds himself in hot water after he referred to Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star Caitlyn Jenner as a "fella" during what many fans felt was a transphobic joke. This happened during Che's recurring Weekend Update segment with Colin Jost.
The 36-year-old comedian has been doing the Weekend Update since the start of the 40th season of the show back in September 2014, but he's become an integral part of the SNL show. Che, the first African-American co-anchor in the history of the segment, had previously been working as a writer on SNL. The New York City native continued to both act and write on the show, branching out from just Weekend Update to work in sketches and eventually be promoted to main cast. By December of 2017, Che was named co-head writer of SNL.
The joke started out during Saturday's show, as reported by People, when Che was talking about Kanye West's plans to alter his old song lyrics to G-rated ones. This announcement came after West's recent revelation that his new album, Jesus is King, and any future music would have a religious tone. The combination of the new lyric announcement, the rapper's new religious persona, and his recent attire choices, led to Che's joking that West was turning into "an old white lady". He went on to say, “I mean, he used to be one of the coolest black dudes on Earth. Now, he’s showing up to events in sweatpants and orthopedic sneakers, listening to Kenny G and trying to get black people to like Trump. It’s like, how long before this guy changes his name to Kathy?”
While the first part of Che's joke was well-received, it was when he continued on to connect the joke to Caitlyn Jenner, who is a step-parent of Kanye's wife, Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian, that he faced criticism. He used a pre-transition photo of Jenner who came out publicly in 2015 as transgender, as well as referring to her previous name and using the term "fella" when he went on to say, “Now, you might think that I’m crazy, but about five years ago, there was a fella named Bruce Jenner, and he moved to Calabasas …”, which didn't sit well with many fans who took to social media to express their displeasure with the joke. The backlash has yet to be addressed officially by the star or an SNL or NBC spokesperson. The show is coming off a recent controversy when Shane Gillis was fired before his first show following recordings unearthed of him using a racial slur.
How the network will handle the situation is bound to be complicated. Many factors are likely to come into play. How the actor himself responds and how the public accepts that response is likely to play a role. While the comments themselves are both wrong, many companies in many situations will cut ties with an employee they haven't invested in while trying to work with a proven employee to do better in the future. Would this approach be acceptable to fans? Will Che be more since or remorseful following his remarks than Gillis? Many fans who were offended by Gillis found his remarks to be part of a pattern, and his response, which included a comment about apologizing to anyone "who’s actually offended," as evidence that this wasn't a one time mistake the comedian had learned from. Will they feel differently about Che and his handling of the situation in the days to come? That remains to be seen.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians airs Sundays at 9 pm EST on E!
Source: People