Saturday Night Live: Kate McKinnon’s Ellen DeGeneres tackles Kevin Hart
Kate McKinnon as Ellen DeGeneres on Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon has stepped into Ellen DeGeneres’s shoes to take a potshot at Kevin Hart on Saturday Night Live.
The December 15 edition of Saturday Night Live featured a skit based on comedians auditioning to be the new host of the Oscars, after Kevin Hart quit over homophobia claims.
Saturday Night Live comedians took on Ellen DeGeneres and Hannah Gadsby
The segment saw out Ghostbusters comic Kate McKinnon giving her take on the scandal as lesbian TV host Ellen DeGeneres, who is one of the rumoured favourites to replace Hart.
The character quipped: “I’ll host the Oscars, sure! I haven’t done anything controversial in my life, except for being gay, but people like that now!
“Well, apart from the guy who was supposed to host.”
The skit also saw Aidy Bryant pull off a near-perfect impersonation of Please Like Me star Hannah Gadsby.
Aidy Bryant as Hannah Gadsby on Saturday Night Live
Referencing Gadsby’s breakout Netflix comedy special Nanette, she quipped: “Oscars host? Who’s it going to be? Lots of tension, who’s going to break the tension? I would host, but in the middle of it, I’d quit hosting. Too much tension.”
Fans backed Ellen DeGeneres, Hannah Gasby or Lena Waithe to host 2019 Oscars
Like Ellen DeGeneres, Gadsby is among the names that have frequently come up as a potential host for the fast-approaching 2019 Oscars ceremony, which takes place on February 24.
Several people have urged the Academy to pick a LGBT+ host to send an important message in the wake of the controversy over Kevin Hart’s homophobic messages.
Hannah Gadsby and Lena Waithe to host the #Oscars2019
— Campbell X (@CampbellX) December 7, 2018
Master of None star Lena Waithe, who was not featured in the Saturday Night Live skit, is also among the rumoured LGBT+ contenders for the role.
Speaking to Variety earlier this month, Waithe said: “Let’s make sure [whoever hosts], they’re black.”
“Let Donald Glover do it… Donald would be dope. He’d be funny. I would like that… Wanda [Sykes] would be lit.”
She added: “I hope it’s somebody black and somebody funny.”
Speaking about Hart, she said: “I kind of wish that he would have taken a moment to let it be a teachable moment and to say, ‘Hey, what I said wasn’t right and I want to make that right,’ not just to keep the gig, but because there are people in this world that are born different, that are born gay, that are born trans, that are born intersex, that are born asexual, that are born lesbian.
“That’s how God chose to make them so I think as a nation, we need to embrace every single person as they are and I think until we can do that, we’re going to keep bumping up against these things.”
