MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

On May 20, 2016, IndieWire writer Mark Lieberman published an essay entitled, “ ‘Saturday Night Live’: More than 90 Percent of Hosts Are White — Why These Numbers Need to Change.” In addition to detailing cultural and commercial reasons for this mandate, Lieberman also noted that SNL doesn’t work in a vacuum and that the diversity problem resides in the entertainment industry in general. It was also noted that the show asks a lot of diverse talent to host every year, but many decline or can’t be secured for a variety of reasons. Similar articles have been published throughout SNL’s history of five decades, noting the disproportionate representation of hosts, particularly by race.

In the two seasons since, hosts considered to be non-white have increased dramatically: 29% in 2016-2017, and 43% in 2017-2018.

This paper examines the transcendence of hosting duties on Saturday Night Live from a primarily white institution to an increasingly inclusive one in an accelerated time frame. An analysis of the impetus for this change as well as its rhetorical ramifications based in Critical Race Theory (CRT) is employed. Particularly, the ideology of colorblindness and race neutrality is discussed, as well as the practice of the promotion of diversity for self-interest, power, and privilege of dominant groups in American society. The rhetorical functions of humor, culture, and political persuasion are also considered. This paper analyzes the influence of SNL and how the rapid evolution of the identity of its hosts has come to occur as well as positive and negative outcomes of the manner in which it happened.