Daniel Kaluuya’s ‘SNL’ Skit About Vaccine Faces Backlash From Black Twitter
Saturday Night Live is facing outrage by some Black folks on Twitter for its skit about a Black doctor trying to convince his family members to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Some are saying the bit promotes inaccurate and harmful stereotypes about Black people, while ignoring systemic racism in vaccine distribution.
The episode, which aired on April 3, was Daniel Kaluuya’s debut on the long-running, late night comedy show. In the skit, he portrayed Dr. Tevin Jones, the host of a game show called “Will You Take It?”
He offers cash rewards to the at-risk family contestants if they agree to get vaccinated. They include cousin Tasha (Ego Nwodim), uncle Derek (Kenan Thompson), cousin Donald (Chris Redd) and Aunt Shauna (Punkie Johnson).
At one point, Jones offers $5,000 in cash to uncle Derek, who suffered two heart attacks in the last decade. Dereck says he could use the money to get a girlfriend and have a cookout. After thinking about the offer, he responds, "Nah, ain't worth it."
Below is a clip from the show.
“It was highly offensive,” Antonio Moore of the YouTube channel ToneTalks, said in his assessment, which he also posted online.
He said it “portrays African Americans as stupid” and ignores the history behind their apprehensions about getting vaccinated.
Other people took to Twitter to make similar observations.
