The cast members of “Saturday Night Live” once again proved why they’re the crown jewels of jest after responding to a TikTok video about how the show never hires “hot” women.
The uproar began after a recent TikTok video, made by user Jahelis, went viral and caught the eyes and ears of millions online, including some of the SNL cast members, who were accused of being “not hot.”
Jahelis claimed the show didn’t hire “hot” women because “people refuse to accept” how “super beautiful women” can be funny as well.
The TikToker named Jahelis claimed none of the women on SNL “have ever been like hot”
Image credits: jahelis
“Not saying that every single woman on SNL is ugly, it’s just that none of them have ever been, like, hot. They all just kind of have looks that eventually grow on you,” Jahelis said in a since-deleted clip that was posted in March.
“I think it goes back to my theory where, one, people don’t like it when conventionally [attractive women] ― especially super beautiful women ― are funny,” she added. “People refuse to accept that that’s true. And they assume that any kind of humor they put out into the world is actually them being stupid and they don’t understand sarcasm, or why what they’re saying is funny.”
Jahelis singled out some of the SNL stars and said Maya Rudolph, who made the audience laugh from 2000-2020, was “really beautiful,” but “the rest of [the female cast] are all pretty average-looking women.”
Jahelis picked out stars one by one, including Kristen Wiig, whom she declared was “conventionally pretty” but not “hot”
Image credits: jahelis
The TikToker wrote off Kristen Wiig as “conventionally pretty” but not “hot.”
When she picked out Heidi Gardner, Jahelis said the actress often takes “super-hot and super-dumb” roles on the show but is “not that pretty.”
“I guess, technically, [she’s] the most conventionally hot person — like, hot female — on this cast,” the TikToker added.
To drive her point home, Jahelis picked out male comedian Jimmy Fallon and claimed he’s a “conventionally super hot guy.” She also clubbed Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Bowen Yang in the list of “hot” male comedians.
The TikToker also claimed Heidi Gardner is “not that pretty”
Image credits: jahelis
In the viral video, Jahelis’ main point of contention was that people cannot accept a woman being funny and hot at the same time.
“To be considered funny, you have to be more funny than you are hot. And if you’re more hot than you are funny, then it boils down to you just not being funny at all,” Jahelis said in her analysis.
She also wondered in the video whether the show deliberately avoided hiring hot women because of misogyny — “once we see women as super funny, we have a hard time seeing them as also both sexy and attractive,” she argued.
Jahelis’ video went viral and caught the attention of not just fans but also SNL stars
Image credits: chloetroast
The TikToker’s video went viral and reached the nooks and crannies of the Internet, catching the attention of SNL stars as well.
After current SNL member Sarah Sherman scrolled through her feed and came across Jahelis’ video, she responded with a sarcastic retort on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Just found out I’m not hot. Please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time,” Sarah wrote.
Meanwhile, Chloe Troast, a new cast member, re-shared a snippet of Jahelis’ video before humorously singing her rendition of Christina Aguilera’s hit song, “Beautiful.”
Chloe Troast from the show posted a video of herself singing Christina Aguilera’s hit song “Beautiful” in response to Jahelis’ video
Image credits: chloe_troast
Many fans joined the hot discussion and offered the names of a number of cast members that they found “hot” on the show.
“Kate McKinnon??!!! Melissa Villasenor?! Amy Poehler?!?? Kristen Wig?!!! helloOoOo,” one said, while another added, “Ego Nwodim is literally drop dead gorgeous.
“Have you SEEN CHLOE FINEMAN. She’s so gorgeous,” quipped another comment.
“Julia Louis Dreyfus is one of the hottest women of all time?” a fourth comment said.
Another wrote, “Kate McKinnon is unironically one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen.”
Chloe Troast had also briefly flipped off the camera in her response
@chloetroast #stitch with @Jahelis ♬ original sound – chloetroastJahelis deleted her initial video, but not before it blew up and made her the subject of nationwide headlines, prompting her to post another video where she brazenly declared that she was not going to apologize for her statements.
“I never expected that video to go viral. Had I known, I would’ve maybe articulated myself a little better. I was expecting to have a dialogue with my community who is use [sic] to my unfiltered opinions that rarely come from a place of malice,” Jahelis said, quoting a long-winded response she wrote to a journalist.
“In return for being brave enough to share a peak [sic] into what is the magical colorful wonderland that I call my mind, I have received comments calling me ugly, fat, a trunk full of racially charged insults, etc. (I stopped reading the comments so I’m not sure what other creative ways they’ve thought to insult me),” she said.
SNL member Sarah Sherman responded to the viral video with a sarcastic retort
Image credits: sarahsquirm
Jahelis said she was bullied for the video and had to see her comments section peppered with racial insults for her remarks.
“You know what they say, no good deed goes unpunished! Unfortunately, for everyone involved, bullying and racial insults have not swayed me and instead I would love to double down. And I agree with them, calling a group of mostly white Women ‘not that hot’ makes me deserving of fatphobic, slut shaming, racial insults,” she said. “They’ve really shown me!”
“Ironically enough, the other half of the comments were people replying ‘SNL doesn’t hire hot women because hot women aren’t funny.’ Proving the exact point that I was trying to make in my video. Women are not allowed to be considered sexy, funny, and smart the way that men are. They need to pick a thing and stick to it.”
Sarah Sherman humorously quipped she needed time to “uglily” grieve after finding out she’s “not hot”
just found out i’m not hot. please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time. https://t.co/YXvXMGvbYN
— SARAH SQUIRM (@SarahSquirm) April 1, 2024
Jahelis believes the racially charged comments on her video are the “perfect example of performative feminism that only cares about ‘everyone being nice to each other’ and not actually making changes that improve the lives of women.”
“In conclusion, I would like to apologise to no one and will go on living in a world wehre [sic] apparently Tina Fey looks like Megan Fox,” she said.
“Welp. Thanks for the press ! I guess,” the TikToker wrote in the caption.