Top Republican Elise Stefanik's team has criticised NBC's Saturday Night Live for an 'appalling' sketch that mocked her questioning of university presidents over anti-Semitism. The sketch, aired last weekend, depicted the congressional hearing where Stefanik pressed the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT on whether 'calling for the genocide of Jews' would violate their codes of conduct.
Stefanik's senior advisor Alex DeGrasse told DailyMail.com that the office was 'flooded' with messages from both Republicans and Democrats who were 'appalled and disgusted by the antisemitic trash spewed by unfunny, morally bankrupt comedians.' DeGrasse added: 'SNL made history with the worst cold open ever because everyone knows there is absolutely no humor in the vile answers from the university presidents regarding their failure to condemn calls for the genocide of the Jewish people.'
The hearing led to the resignation of UPenn President Liz Magill after she failed to give a direct answer on whether calls for genocide would violate school policy. Stefanik called Magill's resignation 'the bare minimum' and said Harvard and MIT should follow suit. 'One down. Two to go,' she stated, adding that 'this is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism.'
Former SNL star Cecily Strong reportedly backed out of playing Stefanik in the sketch at the last minute, being replaced by newcomer Chloe Troast. The sketch drew widespread condemnation from figures including Rabbi Shmuel Reichman, who called it the 'most embarrassing' in SNL history, and former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who said it 'just wasn't funny.'
