Saturday Night Live (SNL) has been a cultural institution for nearly five decades, often pushing boundaries by satirizing almost everything from politics to pop culture.
But not every sketch is well-received. While the show’s edgy humor has contributed to its longevity, it has also drawn criticism for sketches deemed mean-spirited or insensitive, sparking numerous controversies that many feel cross the line from comedy into cruelty.
As this iconic force in American comedy is once again in the headlines for its “mean and unfunny” sketch about The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood, here are the other times SNL was criticized for its mean sketches.
1. "The White Potus" and Aimee Lou Wood
In its recent episode, SNL aired a sketch called The White Potus, a parody of HBO’s hit series The White Lotus but with various Trump family members and their political allies as the characters.
The sketch included cast member Sarah Sherman portraying Wood’s character Chelsea and wearing exaggerated false teeth, with a joke centering around fluoride in drinking water affecting teeth.
"I've been having these insane ideas, like what if we took all the fluoride out of the drinking water? What would that do to people's teeth?" Jon Hamm as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked.
"Fluoride? What's that?" Sherman responded while showing off a massive set of chompers and opening her eyes very wide.
Wood then took to Instagram Stories to express her disappointment in a series of posts, saying she "did find the SNL thin mean and unfunny."
"Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago," she continued. "Yes, take the piss for sure — that's what the show is about — but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?"
2. The "Gen Z Hospital" and Elon Musk
Elon Musk hosted a sketch called "Gen Z Hospital," which parodied the said generation’s speech patterns.
Cast members Melissa Villaseñor, Bowen Yang, Kate McKinnon, Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim, and Heidi Gardner played as the young individuals, born between 1997 and 2012, using the new terms "bestie," "gang, gang," "catch hands," "the tea," and "sus."
If having Musk as a host was not controversial enough, creating an unusual social media buzz, the sketch faced immediate backlash after critics pointed out that the terms used were not just simple "Gen Z slang."
They were taken from African American Vernacular English (AAVE)—from the Black community.
If not for the sketch title, it could easily be mistaken for comedic blackface, making it unsettling and ultimately ineffective as comedy.
3. "Canteen Boy and the Scoutmaster" with Alec Baldwin
Canteen Boy is a recurring SNL character played by Adam Sandler. In the Season 19 Valentine’s Day episode hosted by Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, the former played Mr. Armstrong, a scoutmaster making overt sexual advances toward Canteen Boy.
The sketch angered a lot of fans, including the Boy Scouts of America, saying, "We see nothing funny about child molestation, and are surprised that this unfunny subject would be selected for a comedy sketch."
Baldwin later claimed that NBC received over 300,000 phone call complaints and lost seven affiliates.
A disclaimer was then added to the top of the Canteen Boy sketch, noting that the character was not a child but a 27-year-old naïve man, "who, despite his age, remains active in scouting."
4. Self-Acknowledging Controversial Content with Tom Hanks
During its 50th anniversary special on February 16, 2025, SNL made something unusual by acknowledging some of its most controversial sketches from the past.
Hosted by Tom Hanks, the A-list actor presented a segment where the show admitted that it had "previously included sketches and skits that have aged poorly" and was "apologizing for this."
It then showed clips of sketches that made fun of sensitive topics, including "sexual harassment, sexism, ethnic stereotyping, gay panic, and more."
However, despite the self-acknowledgement, it still received mixed reactions from fans, with some saying it was the very reason why SNL was not funny anymore.
5. Weekend Update: Fred Armisen as New York Gov. David Paterson
SNL’s political satire is usually comedy gold, but not when Fred Armisen parodied New York governor David Paterson in 2013 during its Weekend Update segment.
Instead of focusing on the politician's career or scandals, the show chose to focus on his blindness. A member of the Democratic Party, Paterson was the first legally blind person to become the governor of a U.S. state. He, too, was the first African-American governor of New York.
With that said, it was no surprise that he called out the show for "relying on offensive stereotypes" about people with disabilities.
6. Leslie Jones' Weekend Update Commentary
Leslie Jones joined SNL's Weekend Update in May 2014 and weighed in on People magazine naming Lupita Nyong'o the Most Beautiful Person in the World.
However, instead of congratulating Nyong'o, her commentary sparked significant backlash after joking about slavery.
Sure, she acknowledged the actress's incredible beauty, but she quipped that her own size and strength would have been considered more valuable attributes that would lead to a better love life.
As this sketch ignited a firestorm on Twitter, Jones fired back by saying the joke was meant for her.
7. Christoph Waltz in DJesus Uncrossed
If you are going to parody Jesus, prepare for a massive backlash. SNL probably saw it coming when it had Christoph Waltz play the role of the Lord and Savior in DJesus Uncrossed, a parody of Django Unchained, in February 2013.
But instead of portraying the loving, forgiving central figure of Christianity, the show reimagined His story in a Quentin Tarantino style—excessively gory and violent.
As expected, many religious groups were offended by this sketch, portraying Jesus as super violent.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations even released a statement saying that though they understood the show wanted to "provoke a humorous response," it was "a distasteful portrayal."
8. Michael Che Making Fun of Caitlyn Jenner
When Caitlyn Jenner publicly transitioned to a woman in 2015, she gained media attention, making her one of the celebrities that SNL loved to parody.
In fact, the show parodied her multiple times with Cecily Strong as the actress. However, not everyone saw the fun in the sketches that involved her.
Take it from Michael Che's Weekend Update, where he called Jenner a "fella" and referred to her as her former name, Bruce Jenner, showing a photo of her before her transition.
After the sketch aired, fans expressed their outrage on social media, calling him transphobic, sexist, and ageist.
9. Jimmy Fallon Impersonating Chris Rock in Blackface
In 2000, Jimmy Fallon impersonated Chris Rock by wearing blackface. When the clip resurfaced in 2020, he quickly faced a backlash on social media that prompted him to release a statement to apologize.
"In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface," he wrote in a post on Twitter. "There is no excuse for this. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision, and thank all of you for holding me accountable."
Anyhow, in an interview with the New York Times, Rock called Fallon a friend and believed he did it with no malice.
"A lot of people want to say intention doesn’t matter, but it does," he said. "And I don’t think Jimmy Fallon intended to hurt me. And he didn’t."
10. Pete Davidson Made Fun of Dan Crenshaw's Eye Patch
Pete Davidson was criticized after he made fun of Republican Congressman Lt. Commander Dan Crenshaw's eye patch during the Weekend Update in 2018.
"You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit-man in a porno movie," he said.
For starters, Crenshaw lost his eye while serving in Afghanistan in 2012.
With the mockery, Davidson issued an apology to Crenshaw the following week after receiving death threats for his joke.
Crenshaw, on the other hand, roasted Davidson for looking like a "Troll doll with a tapeworm" and "Martin Short in the Santa Clause 3."
However, two years later, Davidson claimed he was only "forced to apologize" and saw nothing wrong with what he did in his 2020 Netflix special, Alive From New York.
As a retort, Crenshaw was "sad" that Davidson "can’t stop thinking about" him.
SNL has always been satire, but it must know that there is a very thin line between sharp comedy and outright cruelty. Certainly, the show is already an institution in comedy sketches, but as public awareness of sensitive issues increases, it may be the right time to be more considerate.