Bowen Yang says Aimee Lou Wood’s reaction to The White Potus Saturday Night Live sketch was ‘completely valid’

Saturday Night Live (SNL) star Bowen Yang has spoken out on the debacle regarding the show’s parody of Aimee Lou Wood.

During a recent episode of the sketch comedy show, a sketch called ‘The White Potus’ saw cast member Sarah Sherman imitate Wood with a pair of pronounced fake teeth, with The White Lotus actress later taking to Instagram to call the sketch “mean and unfunny”.

Despite many saying that Wood’s response was an ‘overreaction’, Yang disagrees.

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“However she reacted to that sketch is completely valid,” he told Extra.

“With parody, you kind of forget the sort of human, emotional cost that it sort of extols on someone.”

Sherman (the cast member who portrayed Wood) personally apologised to the actress, with SNL also reportedly issuing a private apology.

Yang has said that Wood’s reaction to the sketch is a good reminder for himself and fellow comedians to keep in mind the impact their jokes can have on real-life people.

“It’s this thing that we tend to forget sometimes, and this is a reminder,” he said.

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“It seems like she’s spoken to people at the show about it, and hopefully there’s room to move on from it.

“You need those reminders every now and then that parody can go too far sometimes, and that we as comedians can take [accountability] for that instead of banging our foot and saying, ‘We should be allowed to say whatever we want’.”

After the sketch aired, Wood took to Instagram to share that she found it “mean” and “unfunny”.

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“Yes, take the piss for sure – that’s what the show is about,” she added.

“But there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”

The actress also made sure to clarify she wasn’t blaming Sherman for the sketch, but was rather “hating on the concept”. 

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