Yes, Kerry Washington Hosting SNL Is As Big A Deal As The Internet Is Making It Out To Be

Yesterday it was a joy to see the same headline repeated several times over my timeline on Twitter. It was announced that Kerry Washington will be hosting Saturday Night Live. This was met to rapturous Twitter applause (a Twitter applause consists of exclamation marks + a lot of caps). And, in turn, it sparked a debate. Because of course. If you do a quick Google search of “Kerry Washington + SNL” you’ll find several articles that are discussing whether or not Saturday Night Live has a race problem. Basically: where are the black female comics at?

This has been going on forever, but it’s been particularly heightened in recent years, mainly post-Maya Rudolph’s departure from the show. It’s usually brought up because, um, where is the Michelle Obama impersonator at (besides flying in Maya Rudolph when they can)? Why does Kenan always have to do the black women? So on and so forth. It was brought up again when Kenan was asked this week about the issue and he said that the black female comics just aren’t prepared when they do find them. Erm, so much is wrong with that, Kenan. This response was in response to other cast-member Jay Pharoah saying that the show – that employs him – needs to pay more attention to diversity. Bless him. He’s brave. (This is without sarcasm).

So ya, Kerry Washington hosting Saturday Night Live is a big deal. It’s a big deal for her professionally. It’s a big deal because it makes up for WHATEVER that Bruce Willis episode was last week. It’s a big deal when Lorne captures the zeitgeist. But mostly because the last time a black woman hosted the show was when Gabourey Sidibe did in May 2010. This is what I find more concerning than the lack of diversity in the cast (though both are equally disturbing). Look, maybe the callbacks and audition tapes are slim pickings for black female comics. We don’t know. We’re not there. And I do not think Lorne Michaels is consciously making an effort to not hire women of colour. And yes, I know this is a very small subset, but “them not being ready” is not a valid excuse.

Wanda Sykes has never hosted Saturday Night Live. Margaret Cho has never hosted Saturday Night Live. Aisha Tyler has never hosted Saturday Night Live. Whoopi f-cking Goldberg has never hosted Saturyday Night Live (though she has said it’s more out of not wanting to than them not asking). So on and so forth. So this is where my issue lies. It’s in the lack of trying – or the lack of us seeing them try. So, Kerry Washington – or any woman of color – hosting the show will stop being a big issue when they stop making their race issue so glaringly obvious.