Saturday Night Live sparks backlash after promoting ‘cancelled’ comedian on July 4
Titled Washington’s Dream, the sketch first aired on the NBC programme in 2023 (Picture: NBC)
Saturday Night Live has stoked the anger of fans after sharing a 4th of July-themed sketch which includes comedian Nate Bargatze.
Titled Washington’s Dream, the sketch first aired on the NBC programme in 2023, with the hugely popular stand-up comedian playing the US Founding Father while hosting.
In the sketch posted to SNL’s Instagram, Washington rallies his troops during the Revolutionary War in 1776, only to get hung up on quirks of the English language and ignore questions around slavery.
When SNL shared the clip on social media, their followers flooded the comments section with criticism of the post for including last year’s Emmy host.
It comes after Bargatze faced intense backlash for attending the White House UFC fight, which also doubled up as President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday bash.
The comedian has eschewed politics in his stand-up, but was pictured with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his wife Cheryl Hines at the event, prompting calls for the comedian to be ‘cancelled’.
The sketch sees George Washington ignoring questions around slavery (Picture: NBC)
A source close to Emmy-winning comedian, 47, told the Daily Beast that the comedian is ‘not political’ but attended the event because he is a UFC fan.
SNL’s Washington sketch proved so popular when it aired three years ago that the show did another version of it in 2024.
In the skit, Kenan Thompson asks: ‘And sir, in this new country, what plans are there for men of colour such as I?’ Bargatze’s Washington ignores him.
When Washington brings up football, Thompson’s character asks: ‘And the slaves, sir. What of them?’ Again, Bargatze’s future president moves on and waxes lyrical about ‘liberty’.
The sketch was so popular that Saturday Night Live revisited it in 2024 (Picture: NBC)
As he walks off the set, Thompson shouts to him: ‘Where all men are free, right?’
In the Instagram comments, the post of the sketch for July 4th was labelled ‘tone deaf’, with calls to ‘cancel’ Bargatze from the traditionally left-leaning fans.
Wungus wrote: ‘Not the best time to post this SNL especially if Nate is involved.’
‘Read the room SNL,’ Wis Holt wrote on Instagram, while Jeri Miller commented: ‘Used to really like this guy until he showed up supporting DT. I have a different perspective of him now.’
Metro contacted SNL and Nate Bargatze for comment on this story.
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