NBC
During the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary special, the long-running sketch comedy show did a bit on all of the questionable and problematic bits they’ve done over the years by putting them into an “in-memoriam” segment. Depending on which Uncle in your family you asked, these following kinds of jokes have become tabooed and “canceled” because of “woke.”
Introducing the sketch was two-time Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks, who has hosted Saturday Night Live a whopping ten times over the decades, with his first hosting gig coming in 1984.
“As we celebrate the achievements of the past 50 years, we must also take a moment to honor those who we’ve lost: countless members of the SNL family taken from us too soon. I’m speaking, of course, about SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly,” Hanks begins.
The in-memoriam style montage that highlights now taboo jokes/brands of comedy such as ethnic stereotypes, sexual harassment, underage sexual harassment, animal cruelty, body shaming, slut shaming, gay panic, ableism, sexism, child molestation, and racial slurs. They also id bits on problematic guests such as O.J. Simpson, R. Kelly, and Diddy.
The Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special brought back some of the series’ most iconic cast members, including Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Steve Martin, Kate McKinnon, Adam Sandler, Maya Rudolph, Mike Meyers and many more.
There were also tons of non-SNL celebrities involved in the show such as Alec Baldwin, John Mulaney (a former writer on the show), Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johnasson, Tom Hanks, Woody Harrleson, Meryl Streep, Pedro Pascal, Kim Kardashian, Peyton Manning, Jon Hamm, and Bad Bunny.
The Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special, in addition to the celebratory concert that was held the night before, are now streaming on Peacock.