'SNL's Britney Spears sketch invites flak. Know why
What's the story
Popstar Britney Spears's manager Cade Hudson took umbrage at a recent SNL skit where comedienne Chloe Fineman was seen parodying Spears's recent memoir The Woman In Me.
Fineman pretended to be the singer and then played a montage of actors, saying how several Hollywood celebrities wanted to voice her book.
Hudson wasn't the only one who blasted the episode. Here's why it got slammed.
Manager's response
First here's how Hudson expressed his rage
Hudson wrote on Instagram, "Wow. The writers of SNL are getting worse and worse. No wonder you all reached out to me to get Britney on the show...SNL is on life support. You all are pathetic and this Chloe [Fineman] isn't funny. Did you find her on Craigslist or something?"
Hudson is also Spears's longtime friend and features regularly on her Instagram.
Skit
What actually happened in this skit?
During the skit, Fineman says, "I'm beyond touched that my book The Woman in Me hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, to say the least."
"My audiobook is read by the amazing Michelle Williams, but she wasn't the only one who wanted to read it. Here's a peek at some of the other actors who auditioned to read TWIM."
Other actors
Other actors were also a part of it
The other actors in this video were Punkie Johnson (playing rapper Ice Spice), Bowen Yang, (The B-52s's Fred Schneider), Timothée Chalamet, (filmmaker Martin Scorsese), and Kenan Thompson (astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson).
Fineman also played actor and filmmaker Natasha Lyonne, and Mikey Day portrayed stunt performer Steve-O.
Several social media users called the skit "insensitive" as Spears had spoken about her trauma in the memoir.
Twitter Post
Watch the full parody here
The Woman in Me audiobook auditions pic.twitter.com/569aacLx6k
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) November 12, 2023
Other instances
Not the first time 'SNL' has been called out
This isn't the first time SNL has been accused of being tone-deaf.
In 1990, a sketch featuring Chris Farley and host Patrick Swayze was lambasted for body-shaming and in a 1994 sketch, when Alec Baldwin made sexual advances toward Adam Sandler's character, it naturally raised many eyebrows.
In 2008, Fred Armisen appeared on the show as New York Governor David Paterson, mocking his blindness.