SNL’s Michael Che Coming to Colorado After Angering Feminists
Comedian Michael Che is coming to Colorado this spring, following a feminism joke gone bad on Saturday Night Live over the weekend.
SNL has come under fire a lot these past few days for distasteful jokes and tweets. Of course there's writer Katie Rich's tweet about President Trump's 10-year-old son Barron in which she wrote, "Barron will be this country's first homeschool shooter." Then there's cast member Michael Che, who some critics are accusing of ill-defining feminism and rationalizing street harassment.
Let's begin with the street harassment comment in which he sarcastically apologized to women for giving unsolicited compliments. In 2014, Che wrote in a since-deleted caption on Instagram (via The Huffington Post):
i wanna apologize to all the women that ive harrassed with statements like 'hi' or 'have a nice day' or 'youre beautiful'. i cant imagine what that must feel like. the closest thing I’ve experienced is maybe when a girl recognizes me from tv and they say things like 'AHHHH!! OH MY GOD!! SNL SNL SNL!! TAKE A PICTURE!! TAKE A PICTURE!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! WHATS YOUR NAME AGAIN?! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! WAIT SAY SOMETHING FUNNY!!' but even that is nothing like the harrassment of having a complete stranger tell me to 'smile.'
On SNL's January 21 episode, Che used the Women's March protests to deliver what PopCrush describes as a "tone deaf diatribe" on the feminist movement during the show's Weekend Update bit.
"A feminist is really just someone who believes in equal rights for women, and that's easy to get behind," he said. "That is until you see an actual feminist screaming into a cop's face wearing a homemade uterus hat and then you're like, 'Oh there are levels to this.' I just think it's weird to get a special name for just being a reasonable person, because that's all it is...believing in equality just means you're not a d*ck."
Twitter users began accusing Che of not "getting" feminism and going "All Lives Matter" on us over the issue (along with a Michelle Obama gif full of attitude). Some were especially upset that he was featured in a sketch about why women don't date nice guys immediately following Weekend Update.
All that said, Che has five shows coming up at Comedy Works in Downtown Denver's Larimer Square on March 16-18. I find it hard to believe critics will show up, especially since these comments will be long-forgotten by the time he arrives in Denver. Plus, Comedy Works does a great job at bringing in top-talent.
It's also important to note that the venue is not responsible for his ill-conceived jokes made on SNL and Instagram or what he'll say during his show those nights. But I would hope that's an obvious statement.
Tickets cost $25 for each show, which can be purchased here.