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In 2013, when Kenan Thompson was one of two black actors on Saturday Night Live, he gave an interview in which he was asked about the lack of black women on the show. He was quoted, in part, as saying, “Like in auditions, they never find any that are ready.”
The way it turned out – that black women aren’t funny – still bothers him today.
“I was responding based on the knowledge I had and the way it was written was not what I said … That’s what I noticed, basically, and it is because of those things and blah, blah, blah. Taken as is, “Oh, you don’t think black women are funny.” And it’s blatant, ”Thompson said Monday in the podcast episode. Jemele Hill is not disturbed. “Why would I drop my sisters like this?” My queens. Why would I ever do something so crazy and drastic like come out of my mouth saying black women aren’t funny?
Thompson said that until then he had never been upset that such questions were often asked of him and not of those with the real power to change the cast. But he said his feelings were really hurt. It affected the way people viewed him before they even met him.
This is what happened when Leslie Jones, a rare black actress, joined the show in 2014.
“People twisted my words or whatever,” Thompson said, describing the first day he met Jones and the new cast members. “So I saw her, like, looking me up and down, gauging me… just, like, trying to check me out, ‘Did you really say that fucking shit or whatever? and I’m like ‘No’ in the eyes, and in two seconds we [were], like, kick and have fun just laughing. Every day we hit him, hang out and laugh. “
Jones’ locker room was next to Thompson’s and she “just became my sister,” he said. “She knew it wasn’t my heart and unfortunately that whole message was twisted, but the result was that she ended up being a part of the show and did a great job. And now the world knows on a bigger scale how awesome she is. “
Jones left the skit in 2019, one of many cast members Thompson has seen come and go since joining in 2003. He is currently SNLThe longest-serving cast member in history, which he says is hard to fathom, especially since he was hoping to go on his own project years ago. Finally, after several attempts at development, his sitcom, Kenan, premieres February 16. But he changed his mind and now intends to stay at 30 Rock, at least for now.
“As long as my wife isn’t too upset with all the travel or the back and forth or I’m not home enough, I’d like to keep working, man,” Thompson said. burden on me like that. Like, I’ve been doing this for so long, like, I know how it works. So the challenge is kind of on myself no matter what I want to, you know, give it or try to create new things and things like that. But as far as jumping and everyone has something to do, I can do it while I sleep. So I wish I was 20 [seasons], I think. You know what I mean? It’s so close, and it’s a cool number. “
He joked that he might change his mind “if people just started, you know, throwing me millions and bajillions of dollars.”
Thompson also introduced the most impressive hosts of SNL over the years: “Between [Tom] Hanks and Dave [Chappelle] and Eddie [Murphy], I would say.”
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