The travesty in Leslie Jones’s ill-received Saturday Night Live skitwas not that she dared to joke about slavery, but that she missed an opportunity to bring smart humor back to the beleaguered late night show.
Jones, one of two newly hired black women writers on SNL, made her on-camera debut during the “Weekend Update” segment. Her skit started out promising with her mentioning how Lupita Nyong’o graced People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful” cover and how at 6 feet tall and broad shouldered, Jones would fare well at a “Most Useful” list. I chuckled at her assertion that Nyong’o would probably be a man’s pick at a bar, but during a fight in the parking lot, Jones would be the clear favorite.
Then, the jokes went downhill. Jones launched into a stale joke about how her dating life would have been better during slavery.
“See, I’m single right now, but back in the slave days, I would have never been single. I’m six feet tall and I’m strong, Colin. Strong! I mean, look at me, I’m a mandingo! 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. I would be the number one slave draft pick.”
Jones then prattled off the names of NBA players that she would have birthed because she would have been “matched” with some strong-backed stud. As expected, Twitter’s reaction was fast and furious. Most of the initial backlash took issue with Jones’s subject matter. For some, slavery is just off limits for comedy and there’s no way to make forced mating funny. (read more)
