Just watched Kerry Washington do a stellar job hosting SNL and was even more impressed by the slick tap dance that execs and writers at the late night staple did skirting around the ‘no black female cast member’ issue. It was smart; by making it into a joke, and better yet, having a black woman help tell it, the problem was suddenly neutralized. It’s like that friend that does wrong, but they’re so apologetic, you can say much or be too mad because it’ll make you look oversensitive. The focus on casting, however, is the red herring meant to shift eyes from the lack of diversity behind the scenes at SNL. Say they hire a black women in the near future, once the cries of tokenism die down, then what? This poor woman will have a tremendous weight on her shoulders: to be outstandingly funny without the material. Sure, talent is the foundation, but good writing is the steel, concrete and brick. Maybe it’s not PC, but I have found white men to be terribly inept at writing non-white characters without dipping into stereotype. And, of course, one dimensional characters are right at home in comedy, but that shouldn’t be the full spectrum, which it tends to be on SNL…unless you’re a white male.
USELESSLYRANDOM 