It was a rough week for SNL Weekend Update host Michael Che after he made a joke about street harassment, regarding the viral video was released by Shoshana B. Roberts and Rob Bliss, that many, many people found completely inappropriate. Unfortunately, after Che made the initial comments, his follow-up comments just felt even more and more ignorant. So the real question of Saturday night was if Che would address his comments on SNL. Well, he didn't.
Weekend Update provides the perfect time for the anchors to address happenings in the news. If Che hadn’t made the comments, the viral video seems to be par for the course in terms of what Weekend Update would cover. So when the video wasn't brought up in the news section, yet we still got a million more Ebola jokes — for the fourth week in a row —, it was pretty disappointing that we weren't going to get any real apology.
Had Che brought up the video and apologized for the comments, it most certainly wouldn't have hurt his case. But by not mentioning the comments during his time on screen, it feels like his ignorant take on the street harassment is once again being brushed under the rug (similar to the multiple "apologies" he tried issuing).
I understand that SNL isn't "The Michael Che Show" where he can just use Weekend Update to right any wrongs that some may feel are necessary to address, but it would have been nice. Che is still a newbie at SNL, so it is very possible the show isn't too concerned with his disconnected comments said on his off time. There is also the chance that Che just simply has nothing more to say about the subject. He didn't seem too interested in truly remedying the situation in which he offended many through his social media comments, so using SNL would have seemed out of character with how he previously handled the situation.
Whether it happens publicly or not, I hope Che's misguided view of catcalling and street harassment is corrected in the near future.
Images: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC
