"Saturday Night Live" started its Kerry Washington-hosted episode last night with what at first seemed like another of its trademark political cold opens. Instead, "SNL" took aim at itself.


The sketch, which opened on Jay Pharaoh's Barack Obama in the Oval Office, reeling from embarrassing political setbacks, quickly shifted gears with the arrival of Michelle Obama, then Oprah, then supposedly Beyonce. The catch? Kerry Washington was supposed to play all three of them, because "SNL" doesn't have any black women on its cast.


Cue the following mea culpa from the show's producers:


The Producers at "Saturday Night Live" would like to apologize to Kerry Washington for the number of black women she will be asked to play tonight. We made these requests only because Ms. Washington is an actress of considerable range and talent and also because "SNL" does not currently have a black woman in the cast. As for the latter reason, we agree that this is not an ideal situation, and look forward to rectifying it in the near future…unless, of course, we fall in love with another white guy first.

For all of "SNL's" staying power -- it has, after all, been on the air for most of four decades -- the one criticism it's never been able to escape is its startling lack of diversity. When "SNL" rolled out six new cast members in September, many voiced disappointment. Five of them are white men, and the one female addition, "despite a heritage which includes Tunisian and Latina roots… has seemingly played just white characters onscreen," as as NPR points out. That criticism was renewed this week, as Kerry Washington, one of only a few leading black women on television, prepared to host.


Per the Associated Press:


The show has had four black women among its regular cast since coming on the air in 1975 with the last one, biracial Maya Rudolph, leaving in 2007. Both Pharoah and Thompson have recently addressed the situation in interviews, with Pharoah even lobbying for a specific comic to be added — Darmirra Brunson of the OWN sitcom "Love Thy Neighbor."

"It's not like it's not a priority for us," producer Lorne Michaels told the AP last week. "It will happen. I'm sure it will happen."


Good self-awareness, "SNL." Now do something about it!



Also on HuffPost:




Loading Slideshow...



  • Rob Schneider


    In an interview with a California news station, Rob Schneider <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/rob-schneider-links-autism-vaccines_n_1641922.html" target="_hplink">revealed his opposition to government-mandated vaccines</a>, attributing them to Autism. He also said they went "against the Nuremberg Laws," although he most likely meant the UN's Nuremberg Principles, not the series of anti-semitic statutes passed by Nazis.




  • Jon Lovitz


    On the "ABCs of SNL" podcast in April 2012, Lovitz made headlines for his complaints about Obama's tax policies, saying, "This whole thing with Obama saying the rich don't pay their taxes is f*cking bullshit, and I voted for the guy and I'm a Democrat. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/jon-lovitz-obama-criticism_n_1447411.html" target="_hplink">What a f*cking a**hole</a>." He later called Obama "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/jon-lovitz-hannity-obama-hypocritical-george-clooney-video_n_1527656.html" target="_hplink">hypocritical</a>" for holding a George Clooney campaign frundraiser and defended his remarks by saying, "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/29/jon-lovitz-obama-defends-comments_n_1463338.html" target="_hplink">Last I checked, he's President, not King</a>."




  • Victoria Jackson


    Tea Party member Victoria Jackson can be frequently counted on to offer an off-color remark, whether she's slamming <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/22/victoria-jackson-slams-glee-showbiz-tonight_n_838862.html" target="_hplink">"Glee," gays or Muslims</a>, comparing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/08/victoria-jackson-former-s_n_227781.html" target="_hplink">President Obama to Hitler</a> or saying that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/12/victoria-jackson-is-crazy_n_174253.html" target="_hplink">Rush Limbaugh should run the country</a>. During her time at "SNL," she reportedly said, "Maybe I'm overcompensating, because everybody here is dying and going to Hell, and I'm supposed to tell them about Jesus."




  • Chris Rock


    Chris Rock's career relies on his controversial stand-up and frank speech, but they've also frequently gotten him into hot water. In 2005 he was criticized for his harsh monologue at the Academy Awards and did not return to the telecast until 2012. More recently, on July 4, 2012, Rock <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/chris-rock-white-peoples-day-july-4th-tweet_n_1651833.html" target="_hplink">made headlines</a> again for a tweet which referred to the holiday as "White People's Independence Day."




  • Chevy Chase


    Aside from his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/08/bill-murray-talks-chevy-chase-fight-letterman_n_1580489.html" target="_hplink">battles with Bill Murray</a> in the early days of "SNL," Chevy Chase was rumored to be hard to work with on the set of "Community," and it all came to head in April 2012, when he became <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/community-chevy-chase_n_1393823.html" target="_hplink">embroiled in a public feud</a> with boss Dan Harmon. After Harmon called Chase out on his behavior at wrap party, he later played the angry, profanity-laden voicemails that Chase had left him aloud at comedy show. Harmon <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/community-creator-apologizes_n_1402335.html" target="_hplink">later apologized</a> after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/19/dan-harmon-out-community-showrunner_n_1529212.html" target="_hplink">being fired</a> from the show he created.




  • Gilbert Gottfried


    Gilbert Gottfried was part of the huge cast turnover of "SNL" in 1980, but quickly moved on with his comedy and voice-over career. In 2011, he found himself in hot water after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/gilbert-gottfried-tweets-_n_835553.html" target="_hplink">tweeting jokes</a> about Japan's devastating tsunami, leading to his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/gilbert-gottfried-fired-aflac_n_835692.html" target="_hplink">being fired</a> as the Aflac Insurance spokesperson.




  • Eddie Murphy


    In 2007, Eddie Murphy came under scrutiny for his initial refusal to acknowledge Melanie Brown's, AKA Scary Spice's, daughter as his own. In August of that year, Brown complained to <em>People</em> that Murphy had not <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/08/01/mel-b-bashes-eddie-who-ha_n_58789.html" target="_hplink">"paid one penny of child support."</a> A DNA test later proved that Murphy <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/06/22/its-a-girl-dna-proves-edd_n_53400.html" target="_hplink">is the father. </a>




  • Dan Aykroyd


    In April 2010, original "SNL" cast member Dan Aykroyd went on Larry King's show to share his eyebrow-raising theories about aliens: "I don't think we will ever have a formal relationship, a formal contact, with any alien species out there, especially after 9/11 when we broke our toys in the sandbox. If they were observing that, goodbye human race."




  • Tracy Morgan


    After Tracy Morgan made <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/tracy-morgans-homophobic-remarks_n_874699.html" target="_hplink">homophobic jokes</a>, during a Nashville stand-up show, an angry audience member blasted the comedian on Facebook, sparking a controversy. Morgan later apologized and the incident inspired a two-episode special on "30 Rock" called <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/30-rock-tracy-morgan-tracy-jordan-gay-jokes-video_n_1218160.html" target="_hplink">"Idiots are People Two" and "Idiots Are People Three." </a>




  • Randy Quaid


    Randy Quaid rocked "SNL" in the late 80s, but in more recent years he's made headlines for some very different reasons. In 2009, he and his wife were <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/randy-quaid-wife-wanted-f_n_298602.html" target="_hplink">arrested</a> for allegedly not paying a $10,000 hotel bill. The following year they were detained again for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/randy-evi-quaid-arrested_n_552484.html" target="_hplink">repeatedly failing to show up to hearings</a> for the charges, and again in 2010 for allegedly staying in their old home <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/19/randy-evi-quaid-arrested-_n_730680.html" target="_hplink">without the permission of the new owner</a>.




  • John Belushi


    John Belushi is often remembered as one of the funniest "SNL" cast members of all time. However, in 2011, fellow original cast member <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/13/john-belushi-sexist-jane-curtain_n_848646.html" target="_hplink">Jane Curtin painted a different picture of Belushi</a> when she went on "Oprah" and accused him of deliberately sabotaging sketches by female writers when he performed them at table reads.




  • Robert Downey Jr


    Did you know that RDJ was an "SNL" cast member in the 1980s? He was, from 1985-1986, but most people know him as a film actor, specifically one who was repeatedly arrested on drug charges in the 90s. After a missed test in 1999, he ended up in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison. After he was released, he began working on "Ally McBeal" but he was famously fired from the show after being arrested yet again.