A Republican representative is demanding that Saturday Night Live issue a "full-fledged apology" after the show mocked New York Representative Elise Stefanik.
Saturday's episode opened with a sketch parodying the congressional hearing on campus antisemitism. On December 5, the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania discussed measures to address the rise in antisemitism at colleges amid the Israel-Hamas war, with their testimonies prompting uproar online.
An exchange between University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Stefanik has gained particular traction, with conservatives—including North Carolina Representative Greg Murphy—blasting SNL for ridiculing Stefanik while being less harsh on the "progressive" college leaders.
On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage. Israel subsequently fired airstrikes on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut off supplies of food, medicine, fuel and energy into Gaza, before launching a ground offensive. As of Monday, 17,700 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, with roughly 90 percent of the area's 2.3 million population displaced.
The conflict has led to a rise in anti-Palestinian and antisemitic attacks across the U.S. Although she denounced antisemitism earlier in the hearing, Magill was criticized for seemingly evading a question by Stefanik.
When asked if students "calling for the genocide of Jews" breaks the university's rules against harassment, Magill called it a "context-dependent decision."
"If the speech turns into conduct it, can be harassment, yes," she told Stefanik.
The exchange went viral, with Magill resigning from her post on Saturday. The SNL skit that night starred Ego Nwodim as Harvard President Claudine Gay, Heidi Gardner as MIT's Sally Kornbluth, and Chloe Fineman as Magill, while Chloe Troast portrayed Stefanik.
"I'll turn it over to MAGA superstar Elise Stefanik from New York, who's been pacing the hallways listening to Lose Yourself by Eminem," said comedian Molly Kearney, dressed as Representative Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
"Thank you, chairwoman," Troast replied. "I'm going to start screaming questions at these women. I'm Billy Eichner."
"Yes or no, is calling for the genocide of Jews against the code of conduct for Harvard?" she asks Nwodim, who replied: "Well, depends on the context."
Troast then moved on to Fineman, yelling: "UPenn lady, same question, yes or no?"
"Well, we are serious about stopping all forms of hatred, antisemitism, Islamophobia..." she responded, before Troast interrupted.
"Not the second one," she cries, meaning Islamophobia.
Next, Troast questioned Gardner, telling her: "Keep in mind, if you don't say yes, you're gonna make me look good, which is really, really hard to do."
"Do you think genocide is bad?" she asked, with Gardner requesting to submit her answer in writing at a later date.
"Am I winning this hearing?" wondered Troast, grinning. "Somebody pinch me."
The "chairwoman" informed Troast that her time is up, giving the floor to Michigan Representative Tim Walberg, played by Michael Longfellow. However, he gives up his time so Troast can continue.
"I'm here today because hate speech has no place on college campuses," Troast said. "Hate speech belongs in Congress, on Elon Musk's Twitter, in private dinners with my donors, and in public speeches by my work husband, Donald Trump."
Throughout the remainder of the skit, Troast's version of Stefanik tried to derail the college presidents' attempts to discuss anti-racism initiatives. While wrapping up the scene, Troast told the crowd that she had a great time before describing herself as the "Hanukkah gift nobody wanted."
Newsweek has reached out to Stefanik and Saturday Night Live via email for comment.
The sketch didn't go down well with conservatives online, including Murphy.
"Nothing short of full fledged apology from entire staff of SNL @nbcsnl is required," the 60-year-old wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Attacking @RepStefanik instead of the antisemitic Progressive Presidents rings of their own antisemitism. Typical damn liberal hypocrisy."
Some users agreed with Murphy, with user Rose commenting: "SNL equals trash."
"Spot on! It was disgusting!" wrote Lucinda Lowe.
"SNL has been left wing propaganda for years now," said @jbrandimore.
However, others mocked his post, with Ron Pitts writing: "Nobody cares what you feel."
"It's impressive how thick you layered on the nonsense there," said Harley Robertson.
"This is what you're focused on? SNL?" asked @chuckjenks, while @rebelledeb wrote: "Y'all are such whiny snowflakes."
A representative for Murphy told Newsweek: "Chairwoman Stefanik exposed the leadership of a few of America's top universities for their apathy towards anti-Semitism and harassment towards the Jewish community.
"SNL obviously decided Stefanik was the problem and grossly caricatured her to distract from the elitist rot and detachment of academia. This is just the beginning of exposing the hypocrisy of the many in higher education."
Update 12/11/23, 11:21 a.m. ET: This story was updated with a statement from Murphy.
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