‘SNL’ Under Fire for Julian Castro Omission, Lack of Latinx Casting

LaToya Ferguson

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After the casting controversy leading into its current season, Saturday Night Live is now under fire for a lack of Latinx casting that was made even more apparent during its 45th season premiere.

The issue was highlighted by one of the series political sketches that excluded Democratic presidential candidates Julin Castro. The sketch in question featured impressions of nine of the other candidates (out of the full 19), with two of the candidates (Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders) played by celebrity guests (Maya Rudolph, Larry David) instead of SNL cast members.

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But the Castro omission was especially glaring as the sketch took up over 10 minutes of airtime, featured SNL co-head writer Colin Jost in a rare sketch appearance (as Mayor Pete Buttigieg, played by guest host Paul Rudd last season), and included a Marianne Williamson impression (from SNL newcomer Chloe Fineman), despite Williamson failing to qualify for the last Democratic presidential candidate debate.

It led to discussions on Twitter about SNLs patterns of erasure from other comedians:

And from Latino Victory, a progressive political organization thats endorsed Castro for president:

And even prompted suggestions for who could have possibly played Castro:

In a show of good humor, Julin Castros identical twin brother Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) tweeted that hed have no problem filling the role in the future:

Over the course of SNLs 45-season tenure, there have only been three Latinx cast members: Horatio Sanz (1998-2006), Fred Armisen (2002-2013), and Melissa Villasenor (2016-present). Comedian, actor, and writer Julio Torres also currently serves as a writer for the series.

In terms of SNLs larger diversity, just before this season began the show made headlines for casting its first-ever cast member of East Asian descent Bowen Yang, who was hired as a writer for the series last season at the same time it cast a stand-up comedian with a recent recorded history of making homophobic jokes and jokes containing racial slurs about Chinese-American people.

In past seasons of the show, it was not uncommon for cast members to play other ethnicities (or genders) to make up for the lack of representation. In recent years, however, while the series continues to come under fire for its oftentimes set-in-its-ways casting choices, its become at least somewhat more self-aware.

But the question remains if self-awareness matters for SNL when the follow-through isnt quite there. Felix Sanchez, the co-founder and chairman of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts told NBC News, Understandably any portrayal of a Latino by a non-Latino cast member is criticism the show would want to avoid. But without a Latino cast member, the show cant portray a critical community and by not including a representation of Castro, the show is erasing his presence in the race.

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