Is SNL trying to win back the right?
Aside from being painfully unfunny these days, the long-running sketch comedy show has leaned pretty hard to the left in recent years, turning off many of their viewers on the right.
I mean, remember when they opened their first show after the 2016 election with Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton performing “Hallelujah” like it was some kind of funeral for America? Or when they invited Kamala Harris onto the show the weekend before the 2024 election? Or…well, pretty much any of their political sketches over the past decade mocking conservatives and MAGA supporters?
And to be clear, the problem isn’t that they mock Donald Trump or conservatives. It’s that they only mock one side of the aisle. I’m a firm believer that in comedy, nothing (or nobody) should be off limits, but for years SNL has been running interference for Democrats, afraid to poke fun at some of the insanity coming from the left.
But it seems like that…might be changing?
Of course we’ve seen a big cultural shift over the past year or so, with voters resoundly rejecting the far-left agenda of Kamala Harris. The general consensus seems to be that “wokeism” has gone too far, and we’ve spent too much time focusing on pronouns and safe spaces and ignored real concerns that average Americans have.
And it seems like many viewers think that cultural shift was on display on SNL over the weekend when they ran a skit featuring two straight couples questioning a gay couple about where (and how) they got their baby.
In the sketch, Bowen Yang and guest host Jon Hamm play a gay couple who show up with a new baby, despite not having one the night before. And when their friends question where they got the baby, the gay couple gets offended and accuses the straight couples of homophobia, transphobia, you know, all the buzzwords these days.
And to be clear, I’m not saying it’s a particularly funny sketch. But a sketch mocking the idea of a gay couple showing up with a baby and acting like they gave birth to it NEVER would have aired on SNL just a couple of years ago…and probably wouldn’t have aired had Kamala Harris won the 2024 election.
The clip of the sketch began making its rounds on social media, with conservatives praising the show for finally going there with something that was previously off limits to the liberal left. (Remember when they said it was homophobic to mock Pete Buttigieg and his husband for posing in a hospital bed with their baby like they had actually given birth?)
Absolutely amazed this got made. The vibe shift is real https://t.co/P8IWUHS0UJ
— Helen Joyce (@HJoyceGender) April 14, 2025
Oh my gosh
“You guys said that after dinner you were going to go to a rave called 'bulge dungeon'—and now today you have a baby?”
The purchasing of children deserves mockery and derision 👏 https://t.co/bx994YEXn6
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) April 14, 2025
America's back. https://t.co/sjSsgQukTp
— Walter Hudson (@WalterHudson) April 14, 2025
SNL addressing the previously sacred right of gay men to buy children https://t.co/p4dqhH0Avw
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) April 14, 2025
It took SNL about a decade to realize that some aspects of wokeness are ripe for ridicule — including the purchase of babies by gay couples. https://t.co/kXY4kl5Da5
— i/o (@rational_wiki) April 14, 2025
actually stunned they ran this skit https://t.co/RxtKM2z2BE
— ᴊᴏᴇ ❤️🔥 (@traddingtonbear) April 14, 2025
One of the clearest signs of the vibe shift yet. SNL is now stating the obvious in ways that got lots of people fired 5-10 years ago. https://t.co/nDekWeplKa
— Joseph Backholm (@josephbackholm) April 14, 2025
SNL making a skit about homosexuals purchasing babies is wild. This should tell you how far the culture has shifted. https://t.co/LisNupMWFD
— Ryan (@RCAM_Media) April 15, 2025
whoa. This would have been… unthinkable four years ago? A year ago? The vibe certainly seems to have shifted. https://t.co/KcByT0unqM
— Matthew Loftus (@matthew_loftus) April 15, 2025
Of course there were a few people on the left who blasted the sketch as “homophobic.” (Right on cue).
This feels Homophobic https://t.co/aVhViZ7K60
— Chale (@Chale333) April 14, 2025
What’s the joke here?
It’s a caricature of queer people as child predators while poking fun at “woke” sensibilities – is that supposed to be the joke? Ha, ha, ha I guess?
Based on the replies it seems like it’s made the conservatives angry that you’re joking about the somehow https://t.co/OP749VaNPE
— Brian 🏳️🌈 (@brian_is_tired) April 15, 2025
So SNL, widely disdained among conservatives, is now alienating it’s liberal core fans – because, why? I’ve never seen a TV show commit suicide before.
— Paradoxocologist at large (@W01101010) April 14, 2025
You used to satirise and make fun of right wing talking points and now you’re being homophobic, stereotyping, and bullying a British girl about her teeth for cheap laughs. SNL was never funny, but it’s even worse now. You all suck!
— Wonder Woman 🦨 💨 (@wonder_o_woman) April 14, 2025
Of course we’ve still got a long way to go before we can say that SNL is truly nonbiased in their comedy. One sketch doesn’t really prove anything, other than they apparently feel comfortable joking about things that were off limits just a few years ago.
It’s a good start. If I knew that the show would make fun of both sides equally, maybe I’d be more likely to tune in.
Then again I’d be even more likely to tune in if it were actually funny…but hey, baby steps (no pun intended).
