SNL Video: Melissa Villaseñor Reacts to Greta Gerwig's Oscar Snub, 'White Male Rage' Among 2020 Nominees

Ryan Schwartz
·2 min read

Saturday Night Live this weekend gave Melissa Villaseñor a chance to share her take on the 92nd Academy Award nominations — in song!

Midway through the Adam Driver-led broadcast, Villaseñor joined Colin Jost and Michael Che at the Weekend Update desk to sing about Best Picture nominees like Joker, Jojo Rabbit and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and what they all seem to have in common.

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“I’m so excited for the Oscars this year,” Villaseñor said. “I think I have a really good chance to win.” She then revealed to Jost that she’d written songs for all of the top movies, including the Joaquin Phoenix Batman offshoot. The lyrics went as follows:

“Joaquin Phoenix, skinny skinny; laughs a lot but still so scary.
Dances on steps, goes stompy stompy; puts a pillow over crazy mommy.
But the thing this movie is really about is white male rage! White male rage! White male rage! Joker!”

Villaseñor then moved on to a second song — this one about Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman:

“This movie has a lot to offer; Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa.
Gangster life gets kinda messy; Robert De Niro and Lil’ Joe Pesci.
It’s three hours long, they’re old and they’re young, and it’s white male rage! White male rage! White male rage! Irishman!”

For her third and final performance, Villaseñor performed a medley of songs she’d prepared for multiple nominees, including 1917 and Toy Story 4. The song also made mention of Little Women, whose helmer, Greta Gerwig, failed to score a nod in the male-dominated Best Directing category. (For the complete list of nominations, click here.)

“Manson, Hitler, white male rage.
World War I ’cause of white male rage.
Little Women, big performances; but Greta Gerwig snubbed because of white male rage.
Buzz and Woody at it again, and it’s white male rage! White male rage! White male rage!”

Villaseñor is far from the first person to call out Gerwig’s Oscar snub. While announcing the nominations on live TV, Insecure‘s Issa Rae called attention to testosterone-fueled directing field. “Congratulations to those men,” she deadpanned.

What did you think of SNL‘s response to the 2020 Academy Award nominations? Watch (or rewatch) the Update segment above, then hit the comments with your reactions.

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