'SNL' Writer Under Fire for Slave-Themed 'Weekend Update' Bit

"Saturday Night Live," months removed from criticism over its perceived lack of diversity, is now staring down another racially charged controversy. 

Leslie Jones, an “SNL” writer among the midseason additions to redress that outcry, has come under fire for a monologue she performed on the show this weekend about forced slave breeding.

Jones, who joined the staff in December along with two other black women — writer LaKendra Tookes and actress Sasheer Zamata  — played herself on “Weekend Update,” appearing in front of the camera on the show for the first time.

In her monologue, Jones noted “12 Years a Slave” star Lupita Nyong’o had been named People’s Most Beautiful person, and then joked to “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost about how if she had been alive during slave days, she would have been the most useful “draft pick” for forced slave mating, due to her strong physical attributes.

"I’m single right now, but back in the slave days, I would have never been single!" Jones said. "I’m 6 feet tall and I’m strong, Colin. Strong! I mean, look at me: I’m a Mandingo."

"But Leslie, you’re not saying you’d want to be a slave," Jost replied.

"No, I’m not saying that I want to be a slave. Hell, I don’t like working for you white people right now, and y’all pay me. I’m just saying that back in the slave days, my love life would have been way better. Massah would have hooked me up with the best brotha on the plantation. And every nine months, I woulda been back on the plantation having a super baby… Every nine months!… I would be the No. 1 slave draft pick!"

[Video: Watch Highlights From This Week’s ‘SNL’ With Host Andrew Garfield]

Although Jones’s jokes fell flat for many, Twitter blew up on Sunday with equal cries of criticism and support. 

Then on Monday, Jamilah Lemieux, a senior editor for Ebony’s website, ratcheted up the criticism in an editorial lambasting Jones’s bit as “grossly offensive.” Lemieux found Jones’s skit appalling on several levels.

Lemieux wrote that “it’s depressing that Jones would play out her own issues with feeling undesirable in a way that not only made her, in that moment, perhaps as unattractive as humanly possible, but also mocked other Black women who may be taller, larger, or outside the ‘norm’ in the process. Comedy can be cathartic, dark, subversive… but that takes skill that wasn’t displayed here.”

While Jones has yet to directly respond to Lemieux’s attack, she did take to Twitter on Sunday to defend herself, firing off 17 tweets in all. Among them:

"And it saddens me that BLACK PEOPLE b—— and moan about the most stupid sh—," Jones continued "I’m a comic; it is my job to take things and make them funny."

NBC has not immediately responded to calls seeking comment.

Using slavery as a comedy fodder isn’t unprecedented. It’s been a staple of the “SNL” gag book for years, used previously by the likes of Garrett Morris and Eddie Murphy. This season alone, in February, “SNL” had a skit titled "28 Reasons to Hug a Black Guy Today" — with the reasons 2-28 all being “slavery.” In March, they did a skit on "12 Years a Slave" auditions. And last October, the show featured a sketch called “12 Days Not a Slave.” The show has also in recent seasons skewered pop-culture touchstones ranging from “Django Unchained” to “Roots.”

Two years ago, Comedy Central duo Key & Peele (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) performed a sketch titled "Auction Block" in which they played two slaves who argued over not being chosen at a slave auction.

In that case, however, the reaction wasn’t as polarizing. The New Yorker highlighted the tandem’s comedy as being “transgressive” and displaying “notable manic richness,” while Paste Magazine hailed the sketch as one of the Peabody Award-winning show’s ten best.

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