A recent Saturday Night Live sketch featured SNL alum Adam Sandler as the host of a fake tour company. The premise of the parody commercial is explaining what his Italian tour company can (and cannot) do for customers.
If a person is unhappy in America, they will be the same unhappy person in Italy. “You’re still gonna be you on vacation,” Sandler’s character points out. Sandler continues, “there’s a lot a vacation can do – help you unwind, see some different looking squirrels – but it cannot fix deeper issues: like how you behave in group settings or your general baseline mood. That’s a job for incremental lifestyle changes sustained over time.” (more…)
Last week, Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson told a joke about congressional candidate-elect Dan Crenshaw. Crenshaw is a decorated Navy SEAL who lost his right eye fighting in Afghanistan in the War on Terror.
Naturally, many were unhappy that Davidson made a joke about the appearance of a war hero.
This weekend, Crenshaw appeared on Saturday Night Live. And after giving a couple of comedic jabs back to Davidson (Crenshaw had some pretty good timing on his jokes), he forgave Davidson. (more…)
Popular rapper Kanye West was the musical guest last night on the season premier of Saturday Night Live. At the end of the show, he invited the cast back up on stage.
West was wearing the Donald Trump red and white “Make America Great Again” hat. As the show was ending, West gave a political commentary. It’s been removed on Hulu and was cut off on the live broadcast (to be fair, it was the closing credits of the show).
West has publicly supported Trump on multiple occasions. He met with Trump to discuss issues including the murder rate in West’s hometown, Chicago. He has said he loves Trump.
That doesn’t mean he has to love everything Trump does but he is an interesting voice in the political arena. It seems that part of his support from Trump is also disapproval of democrats. West talks about how the show producers bullied him about his MAGA hat.
He turns and thanks the cast (some of whom look very uncomfortable) for giving him this platform.
West talks of how there should be a natural balance to things, yet he suggests 90% of news is liberal, 90% of television is liberal. He talks of how major entertainment hubs like Los Angeles and New York are overwhelmingly liberal, as well as in the music industry. “It’s easy to make it seem like it’s so so so one-sided,” West says. He’s exactly right on that front. So much of what we are experienced to in the media is liberal. In these large media formats, it can be hard to get other voices into the conversation and that isn’t productive.
I’m sure people will mock West, people will (and have) said it’s for publicity. But for almost two years, West has been supportive of Trump. West has caught a lot of flack. The media and entertainment industries he is criticizing will dismiss what he’s saying (while at the same time, proving his point).
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Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
