NBC’s Saturday Night Live addressed one of the biggest controversies of the week, the shocking incident at the BAFTA Film Awards involving Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson’s involuntary racial slur, in a cut-for-time sketch that may stir its own controversy with its comedic take on the neurological disorder.
In the high-wire, PSA-style skit titled ‘Tourette’s,’ a host of celebrities, including J.K. Rowling, Mel Gibson, The Real Housewives of New York star Jill Zarin, Armie Hammer, Louis C.K., Bill Cosby and Ye claim they suffer from Tourette’s, which would explain problematic comments or actions they have been involved in.
For instance, Zarin, played by Sarah Sherman, whose recent video critique of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show led to her firing from the Real Housewives‘ revival series, revealed, “I suffer from severe longwinded monologue-style Tourette’s, a condition that affects nine out of 10 people on Long Island.”
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“I’m Mel Gibson, and as I probably should have pointed out decades ago, I too, suffer from Tourette’s, which explains a lot of the things I’ve said or yelled through the years,” said the Braveheart star, portrayed by Andrew Dismukes.
Then there was actor Hammer, played by the episode’s host Connor Storrie, “Not many people know this, but one of the most common side effects of Tourette’s is cannibalism.”
Added Rowling (Ashley Padilla), “Tourette’s isn’t just blurting out an offensive word. It can be years-long obsession with something like trans life and a deep anger that someone who was born with a wand in their pants would want that one removed and replaced with a Horcrux.”
SNL veteran Kenan Thompson reprised his popular Cosby impersonation, with the disgraced comedian claiming that he suffers from “something called the drink Tourette’s,” while Ye confessed to having “three different kinds of Tourette’s.”
Whether you find the sketch all in good fun or in bad taste, you can watch it above.
Harkening back to the BAFTA controversy, SNL‘s mock Tourette’s PSA was “brought to you by National Workforce of Rethinking Disabilities, or N.W.O.R.D.”
At last weekend’s BAFTA ceremony, Davidson shouted the N-word at presenters Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan, along with other expletives during the event. The ceremony’s host Alan Cumming apologized for the “strong language,” noting that it was a result of “involuntary tics.” The racial slur made it to the BBC’s tape-delayed BAFTA telecast.