SNL's Michael Che Details Rejected "Racially Specific" Avengers Sketch

05/26/2021 10:14 am EDT

Saturday Night Live has aired several sketches revolving around the MCU, which is natural since they've had so many hosts who happen to be a part of it in some way. That includes Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, and during his episode, we got a Thor sketch that had a very amped Thor celebrating after their big victory. It appears though that there was another sketch that never made it to air, a sketch that Saturday Night Live co-head writer Michael Che talked about in a new interview on the Howard Stern Show (via EW). The proposed sketch involved "the Avengers accidentally killing an unarmed Black teenager", and Che confirmed it was pitched at one point but also said, "for obvious reasons, there's no way that's going on [SNL]."

"Something that's like racially specific, the audience is kind of looking at Saturday Night Live as Lorne Michaels' show," Che said. "They're not looking at it as 'Oh, this is a Black writer who is making this nuanced observation or whatever.' So it's a little trickier. On my show, I can get away with it because they know it's me."

"Even Black people are a little bit like, 'Why are we doing that there? What do they mean by that?'" Che said. "It's a little bit more, 'What are you making fun of here?' We don't really get the benefit of the doubt for something that's that loaded."

As for the pitch itself, Che said Hemsworth shot it down and said "it wouldn't help with tickets,", though he added I thought it would help with tickets."

Che also talked about how the writer's room has changed for the better since he first joined the show as a guest writer in 2013.

"When I first got here it was just Kenan [Thompson] and Jay [Pharoah] were in the cast, but there was no Black writers," Che said. "If I were to write — or if a Black writer were to write — something that's specific to Black humor, an all-white staff might not get the joke, so it's deemed not funny, so it doesn't go on air."

Che added that now that more Black cast members and writers are part of the show, sketches "that probably wouldn't have gotten the benefit of the doubt then will get it now."

"That's got to do with race, and that's got to do with gender, that's got to do with youth. Having that diversity in the room makes the show more diverse," Che said.

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