On tonight’s episode of SNL, Weekend Update‘s anchors tackled topics ranging from criticisms of HBO’s Euphoria and Wheel of Fortune contestants, to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and more.
Colin Jost noted that fans of the hit HBO series Euphoria have been “harshly criticizing” creator Sam Levinson for “sexualizing” its teenage characters. “Plus, it’s just not accurate,” said Jost, as he pulled up an awkward yearbook photo from his younger years. “I mean, take it from me. No one has sex in high school.”
Jost later turned his attention to game show host Pat Sajak, who recently had to ask Wheel of Fortunate fans to “stop making fun” of a pair of contestants who were “unable to solve an easy puzzle.”
“[Sajak] said, ‘Have a little heart,’” Jost said, as he pulled up a Photoshopped copy of a partially filled-in Wheel of Fortune board. “Or, as the contestants would guess, ‘Haze a nipple heave.’”
Later in the segment, Jost and co-anchor Michael Che welcomed cast member Kate McKinnon to the Update desk to discuss Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which recently passed a final state senate committee.
“I’m sorry to barge in here,” said McKinnon. “I just heard about this law and I think it’s amazing.”
Jost was surprised to hear this—presumably, first and foremost, because it’s common knowledge that McKinnon is gay herself. Why, he wondered, would she support this bill?
“When I was in middle school in the ’90s, I was kind of tortured by the constant use of the word gay. Like, ‘Oh, that’s so gay. Ew, you’re gay.’ It made me feel horrible,” she explained, “and to hear that [Governor] Ron DeSantis has taken a stand and said, ‘No, you cannot say gay at school anymore,’ I’m just so jazzed.”
“I feel like there’s been a misunderstanding,” deadpanned Jost. “The law actually means that you can’t acknowledge that ‘gay’ exists at all.”
“…What?” asked McKinnon.
“Yeah, like teachers can’t speak about gay people in history, or if a kid has a gay family member,” explained Jost. “And if a kid confides that they’re gay to a teacher, the teacher has to out them to their parents.”
“Ohhh…” said McKinnon, realizing she’d misunderstood the bill entirely. “What???”
“I’m sorry to break this to you,” Jost said. “It’s probably going to affect what you have to say.”
“No, it’s ok. It’s just that thing of when they say ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ then it’s stuck in your head. But it’s fine,” said McKinnon, pivoting. “Anyway, I am deeply gay… Sorry. Deeply concerned. It just seems like this is going to make kids gay and trans. Sorry. Depressed and suicidal.
“And I just think these laws are lesbians…” she continued. “I’m sorry. Unconscionable.”
“I think you ended up saying gay a couple of times,” observed Jost.
“Yeah, I’m trying to make sense of all this,” said McKinnon. “Like, does this ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law have a purpose?”
“Well, I guess it’s so kids aren’t going home with questions that parents don’t want to answer,” guessed Jost. “I don’t know.”
“Right. So one kid can say, ‘I live with my parents,’ but another one has to say, ‘I live in a house with two adult men who bought me when I was young’? They’ll be less confused then,” McKinnon said. “Look, Colin. If the ’90s were right and gay means bad, then this is the gayest law I’ve ever seen. If you can’t say it, you might as well sing it. ‘Gay, gay, gay….’”
Also stopping by the Update desk tonight for a discussion of Rihanna’s appearance at Paris Fashion Week was a Weary Mother in her Darkest Hour (Ego Nwodim).
Deadline will update this story with video when it comes in.
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