Saturday Night Live to hire its first black female cast member since 2007

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/dec/13/saturday-night-live-black-female-cast

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Saturday Night Live is reportedly about to hire a black female cast member, a first step in addressing claims of a lack of diversity on the popular show.

SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels said on Thursday that a black female comedian will start with the cast in January. She would be the first black woman on the show since Maya Rudolph left in 2007.

“All told, we’ve seen about 25 people,” Michaels told the New York Times. “A lot of the people we saw are really good. Hopefully we’ll come out of the process well.” 

He said up to two people could be added to the cast, but he did not want to add too many women to the current cast, which includes five.

Michaels has come under renewed fire this year after the show’s two black cast members, Jay Pharaoh and Kenan Thompson, commented on the need for black women on the show. Pharaoh told the Grio that SNL needed to “pay attention” to the absence. Thompson told TV Guide that they need people to play black female characters but that when the show is looking for black women, “they just never find ones that are ready."

Thompson faced backlash for the comments, which seem to place responsibility on black women comedians and not his employer. The show then faced more criticism after SNL announced in September that six new cast members were joining in the show’s 39th season, and they were all white.

Along with Pharaoh and Thompson, the 16-member cast includes one other person of color, Iran-born Nasim Pedrad. There are currently no Hispanic or Asian cast members on the show, male or female.

A series of casting calls were held over the past several weeks, culminating with auditions in Los Angeles and a special audition at the show’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza stage on Monday night. Michaels said these auditions were not a direct response to the recent criticism, but that it is “100% good for the show to have an African-American woman”.

In SNL’s 38-year history, there have been four black female cast members. Rudolph from 2000 to 2007, Ellen Cleghorne from 1991-1995 and Yvonne Hudson and Danitra Vance, who each did one-year stints in the 1980s.

Last month, guest host Kerry Washington further drew attention to the issue as the only black woman on stage this season. The show mocked this situation in the episode’s first sketch by saying Washington would have to play Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé all in one skit. 

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