SNL tackles uncomfortable Aziz Ansari conversation

Saturday Night Live addressed how hard it is to talk about the allegations against Aziz Ansari in a post-Weekend Update sketch.

Earlier this month, Ansari was accused of sexual misconduct in a controversial column published on Babe.net, which sparked backlash against the #MeToo movement. In SNL‘s sketch, host Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, and Heidi Gardner are enjoying dinner when Gardner interrupts the conversation by asking if they’d all read the New York Times‘ op-ed about Ansari — which makes everyone at the table feel incredibly uncomfortable and anxious.

Despite their discomfort, they resolve to attempt to talk about Ansari; however, everyone is so worried about saying the wrong thing that they don’t really say much. Eventually, Bennett’s character musters the courage to share one complete thought about the situation and, well, it does not go well.

“The thing that I keep going back to is, it seems like if she wanted to leave she could have just left,” said Bennett hesitantly, which elicits a range of reactions from everyone trying to escape how uncomfortable they feel: Ferrell plunges his face into his plate, Thompson stabs himself, Bryant cuts off her ponytail, and Gardner casts a spell that makes her disappear. Basically, everyone’s a mess because they don’t know how to talk about it.

Ferrell tries to change the subject back to dogs, but McKinnon warns him that’s not possible. “Honey, the time for talking about the dog is over. We are in a post-Babe.net universe now, and we have to finish what we started,” says McKinnon.

Needless to say, the moment Thompson brings up race, everyone at the table loses it. Thus, in the end, nothing actually ends up being said about the controversy.

Read Ansari’s statement on the allegations here, and check out the full sketch above.