‘Saturday Night Live’ Pokes Fun at Idris Elba’s James Bond Rumors, Twitter’s PC Culture (Watch)
The writers at “Saturday Night Live” couldn’t pass up an opportunity to jab at rumors that host Idris Elba could be the next James Bond.
“Luther” and “Turn Up Charlie” star Elba hosted the Mar. 9 episode of NBC’s late-night comedy sketch show and took part in “Can I Play That?”, a new game show sketch in which three actors answered questions about whether or not they could take on certain roles now that “one mistake [on Twitter]…will kill you.”
Related stories
'SNL's' Pete Davidson on Michael Jackson and R. Kelly: 'You Just Have to Admit They're Bad People'
'Saturday Night Live' Delivers Satire of Gayle King's R. Kelly Interview (Watch)
TV Review: Idris Elba in Netflix's 'Turn Up Charlie'
In the final round, the three contestants, played by Elba, Cecily Strong and Beck Bennett, were supposed to answer whether or not they could play James Bond. Elba rang in immediately, saying he knew the answer to that one.
“Do you, though?” Thompson replied.
The rumor that Elba could play the internationally known spy has been circulating for years but was most recently brought back into the zeitgeist after he and former Bond Daniel Craig took a selfie together at the Golden Globes. It went viral, spurring dozens of new headlines speculating the future of that franchise.
In the sketch, the joke came after Elba had been previously shut down by host Kenan Thompson for saying he could play a blind person (“God took their sight and now you want to take their job?”), Sammy Davis Jr. (“He was Jewish”), “an extra in an ADT home security commercial” (“Those all have to be white people now”) and an alien from outerspace (“Do you really want to be the guy who put on green face?) and being threatened to have his face put on a Michael Jackson poster that the show had mocked up as “Haunting Neverland.”
Watch “Can I Play That?” below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYSbk_tTsjk&w=640&h=360]
“Saturday Night Live” airs live coast-to-coast Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
