by Multiple sketches this past weekend on the Will Ferrell-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live either mentioned the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements directly, or indirectly took a satirical view of how culture has either maligned women or promoted an atmosphere that allowed men to take advantage of women sexually.
And then there was this sketch, “Dinner Discussion,” in which a woman wants to know what everyone else thought of a New York Times op-ed about Aziz Ansari. Cue the danger lights and music!
Everyone at the table hesitates, then reluctantly begins to weigh in before aborting their hot take mid-sentence.
It seems like only a year ago Ansari was hosting SNL.
Now the show acknowledges it’s weird, without actually taking its own position on it, except that its position is that it’s weird. Dig it?
Later in the same show, they do have a sketch in which they retroactively acknowledge that pop stars singing about loving teenagers is just plain wrong, no matter the decade. But here, the joke is on us and our inability to have a thoughtful discussion about sexual consent.
