Comedian Michael Che of “Saturday Night Live” just cannot seem to catch a break. Just one week after getting raked over the coals with accusations of transphobia for making a Caitlyn Jenner joke, he has now been slapped with accusations of sexism and ageism for a joke he made on “Weekend Update” this past Saturday.
According to Fox News, social media trolls directed a storm of hate toward Michael Che’s way when he said during a “Weekend Update” segment that a 67-year-old woman giving birth to a child set a “record for most friction” — referencing an elderly woman’s alleged dryness in the nether region.
“See, you guys don’t realize this but that joke took me like four hours to write,” he said in response to the audience’s mixed laughs and groans. “I had much better punchlines but the fellas at NBC standards said they were all too dirty.”
Michael Che then went on to list the other punchlines he wanted to use instead, such as the elderly woman’s breast milk being “chalky” and her breast sagging to the point of being able to nurse a child by simply standing over the crib.
“Like, at first I was gonna say, ‘Well I hope that kid likes his milk chalky!’ But they said, ‘You can’t say that on TV.’ It was my second favorite punchline!” Che continued. “My first favorite being, ‘She can breastfeed just by standing over the crib.’ That’s a good one, right? Nope, NBC said, ‘Too gross,’ which is ridiculous. Too gross would be like if I said, ‘Doctors described the birth as pulling a penny out of a wad of gum.'”
“Now that would be too gross,” he concluded. “Even I wouldn’t tell that joke on TV.”
Social media quickly erupted with outrage over Che’s jokes, with people accusing him of sexism and “punching down on women.”
“Hey [‘Saturday Night Live’], Michael Che’s sexist punchlines were offensive and degrading. Punching down on women is not good comedy, and Michael Che is just showing his disdain for them. He shouldn’t be on your broadcast,” one Twitter user wrote, as reported by Fox News.
“Michael Che … not cool dude, you need to check yourself and get off the race card and the misogynistic comments!!! What’s happening to SNL?????” said another user.
“Please cut [Michael Che,] [SNL,] because he’s not funny. The fact that he’s a bitter, rude man who’s target audience is frat boys isn’t the point. He’s not funny,” said another.
As stated earlier, the move to cancel Michael Che from SNL comes just one week after he faced severe backlash for making a joke about Caitlyn Jenner, when he likened rapper Kanye West’s recent behavior to “an old white lady” and suggested West might be transforming into one.
“He’s showing up to events in sweatpants and orthopedic sneakers, listening to Kenny G and trying to get black people to like Trump. It’s like, how long before this guy changes his name to Kathy?” Che said.
It was then that Che referred to Caitlyn Jenner as a “fella” alongside his original name, Bruce.
“Now, you might think that I’m crazy, but about five years ago, there was a fella named Bruce Jenner, and he moved to Calabasas,” said Che.
For that, Michael Che was deemed a transphobe.