Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) office released a statement this week ripping into the NBC sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” for its widely-panned cold open on the recent congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on college and university campuses across the country.
Notably, Saturday’s cold open bizarrely attacked Stefanik for asking about students’ calls for Jewish genocide while almost entirely backing off the university presidents, whose disastrous testimonies have already culminated in at least one resignation.
“Elise did not watch it,” Stefanik senior advisor Alex DeGrasse told the New York Post. “However, her office was flooded with messages from thousands of Americans across the political spectrum — Democrats and Republicans — who were appalled and disgusted by the antisemitic trash spewed by unfunny, morally bankrupt ‘comedians.'”
“SNL made history with the worst cold open ever because everyone knows there is absolutely no humor in the vile answers from the university presidents regarding their failure to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people,” DeGrasse added.
During the hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill refused to acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews violates UPenn’s code of conduct on bullying and harassment. She resigned from her position on Saturday, mere hours before the SNL sketch aired, The Daily Wire reported.
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In the same hearing, Harvard University President Claudine Gay was similarly questioned about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s codes of conduct. She responded by saying that it depends “on the context.” Gay added that calling for genocide is “at odds with the values of Harvard” and that when that kind of “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”
The sketch, however, portrays Stefanik as unhinged for pressing the collegiate leaders on the issue, while those in academia were handled by the SNL team with kid gloves and largely presented as reasonable.
Conservatives online quickly reacted to the SNL sketch. Conservative Emily Zanotti, for example, posted on X, “I mean, I get that SNL is typically a mess, but how do you watch that hearing and come out of it thinking Stefanik was the right target of satire?”
Radio host Rob Carson commented, “If there is no truth in satire, it’s not funny. This isn’t funny.”
“How to explain SNL siding with Ivy league (sic) neo-racists? Wondering what colleges their writers attended,” Fox News host Greg Gutfeld wrote.
Related: ‘A New Low’: SNL Wrecked For Skit Mocking Elise Stefanik In College Anti-Semitism Hearing