Any news parody show worth its salt would make hay out of President Barack Obama spiking the football over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
And “Saturday Night Live” dutifully wrote a skit on the presidential’s boastful actions intended to open the program. Only the show ended up spiking the skit, according to The Daily Caller which got a leak of the planned script for the sketch.
The bit had Fred Armisen’s Obama extolling the glories of Killing Osama bin Laden day and telling American citizens the best way to celebrate both the day and his “gusty call” to order the strike.
What did the NBC show replace the Obama sketch with, you ask? Another bit trashing “Fox and Friends” for being dumb, biased and racist.
The move certainly raises plenty of questions. Why was the sketch scrapped? Did NBC or the show itself feel any pressure to swap the sketch out for something that wouldn’t offend President Barack Obama? Did some cast members raise objections or refuse to do the skit?
Many former “SNL” performers have discussed the creative process behind the show. And it’s routine for sketches to be trimmed or eliminated for a host of reasons before show time. But this particular sketch was extremely time sensitive and political in nature, two elements that matter to a satirical program like “SNL.”
“SNL’s” Sarah Palin parodies help define the Alaskan governor to the nation. And the show clearly doesn’t want to use its humor to damage the current White House occupant in an election year. That becomes more clear every Saturday night.
Big Hollywood has been relentless in mocking today’s comedians for either ignoring Obama or serving as his unofficial palace guards, protecting him from criticism. It’s a shameful state of affairs regarding how humorists approach the most powerful man in the world, and one that will surely end if Mitt Romney wins the November presidential election.