'SNL' 'Hot Woman' Video Sparks Backlash

A TikTok video in which the beauty of Saturday Night Live's women cast members was questioned has sparked outrage across social media.

TikTok user @Jahelis, who regularly comments on pop culture and has more than 100,000 followers on the platform, shared a video in which she asked: "Am I the only person who's ever noticed that SNL has never hired a, like, hot woman?"

The TikTok user, whose name is Jahelis Castillo, clarified that she's "not saying that every single woman on SNL is ugly, it's just that none of them have ever been, like, hot. They all just kind of have looks that eventually grow on you."

"I think it goes back to my theory where, one, people don't like it when conventionally [attractive]—especially super beautiful women—are funny," she went on. "People refuse to accept that that's true. And they assume that any kind of humor they put out into the world is actually them being stupid and they don't understand sarcasm, or why what they're saying is funny.

"Or they want every joke to be super self-deprecating, like talking down to themselves, so that you can laugh at their expense."

The TikTok user added that for a woman "to be considered funny, you have to be more funny than you are hot. And if you're more hot than you are funny, then it boils down to you just not being funny at all."

In an attempt to illustrate her point, Castillo pointed out former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon as "a conventionally super hot guy. Then we have Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, even Bowen [Yang]. These are all relatively hot men."

Singling out erstwhile SNL star Maya Rudolph, Castillo described the comedian as "really beautiful," although she opined that "the rest of them are all pretty average looking women." She also called Kristen Wiig "conventionally pretty," but stopped shot of accepting that the screen star is "hot."

The clip was circulated on X, formerly Twitter, where as of press time it has garnered more than 7.5 million views.

SNL cast member Sarah Sherman responded to the clip by writing on X that she "just found out I'm not hot. Please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time."

The video also sparked outrage as a number of X users named several cast members they believed fit the bill.

"Are we seriously gonna say that Cecily [Strong] isn't 'hot'? Or Nasim Pedrad? Like, 'conventionally' hot. Get real," one X user commented.

As Strong trended, with numerous fans asserting her levels of attractiveness, several shared images of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an example of beauty.

"I feel like the OP is just looking for GIFS of hot SNL ladies so I'm happy to oblige because I too like looking at hilarious, gorgeous ladies ... who else should be here, folks?" another SNL fan weighed in.

Included in the GIFs were Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, and Vanessa Bayer.

Posting a montage of several women who have appeared in SNL over the years, another responded: "SPEAK NICELY ON MOTHERS."

The montage included not only recent stars of the NBC comedy show, but stars who appeared on the long-running program in decades past.

Sharing a GIF of the cast member in question waving, another viewer said: "Ego Nwodim fan here and I will not stand this aggression man."

Jahelis Castillo Responds to Criticism

When contacted via email, Castillo told Newsweek in a statement that she "never expected that video to go viral. Had I known, I would've maybe articulated myself a little better. I was expecting to have a dialogue with my community, who is [used] to my unfiltered opinions that rarely come from a place of malice.

"In return for being brave enough to share a peak into what is the magical, colorful wonderland that I call my mind, I have received comments calling me ugly, fat, a trunk full of racially charged insults, etc. (I stopped reading the comments so I'm not sure what other creative ways they've thought to insult me)."

Castillo added that the "bullying and racial insults have not swayed me and instead I would love to double down. And I agree with them—calling a group of mostly white women 'not that hot' makes me deserving of fatphobic, slut-shaming, racial insults. They've really shown me!

"Ironically enough, the other half of the comments were people replying, 'SNL doesn't hire hot women because hot women aren't funny,' proving the exact point that I was trying to make in my video. Women are not allowed to be considered sexy, funny, and smart the way that men are. They need to pick a thing and stick to it.

"And refusing to engage critically, on why a show that's been on the air for over 40 years might play a part into uplifting this stigma of pigeonholing women, because you're too busy calling me a bad feminist for referring to someone as 'not that hot' is a perfect example of performative feminism that only cares about 'everyone being nice to each other' and not actually making changes that improve the lives of women."

Concluding, Castillo said, in part, that she "would like to apologize to no one and will go on living in a world where apparently Tina Fey looks like Megan Fox."

Another 'SNL' Star's Looks Questioned

In January 2022, SNL star Nwodim's beauty became a talking point after Candace Owens declared herself "much better looking" than the comedian, who had spoofed her in a skit.

An episode of SNL showed Nwodim parodying Owens in a sendup of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, which featured Aidy Bryant as Senator Ted Cruz and Kate McKinnon as Laura Ingraham.

During the cold open skit, Nwodim's Owens made an appearance as a guest on the show, saying: "Martin Luther King would've voted for Trump."

"Liberals tried to make everything about race," Nwodim's Owens went on. "To quote the only words that Martin Luther King ever said: 'I have a dream.' That's it. End of quote. Nothing about money or jobs or schools, unless you count his tombstone, which says, 'Great job, gang racism over.'"

The real Owens was markedly unimpressed with Nwodim's portrayal of her, as she took to X the following day to send a message to SNL's official account on the micro-blogging platform.

Sharing a screenshot of Nwodim in character, the conservative commentator wrote: "Hey @nbcsnl—not sure who this woman is you have playing me but I am much better looking than this. Next time just reach out and I'll play myself. That way the skit will actually be funny and America might even tune in to the show again! #SaturdayNightLive."

Just over two hours later, Nwodim appeared to respond to Owens' assessment, tweeting from her own Twitter account: "The irony is that I'm actually a bad b**** :)."

Nwodim's more direct feelings on the matter appeared in her liked tweets, where she favorited comedian Chris Redd's response to Owens' statement, as he opined that she was neither better looking nor funnier than the screen star.

Another of Redd's tweets liked by Nwodim read: "Say something that's actually true, Candace! Something like 'This can't be me! I have the energy of a person everybody ignores in group chats and family events.'"

Comedian Lil Rel Howery also chimed in with a reaction that was liked by Nwodim as he wrote: "She should be honored that anybody did anything let [alone] this extremely talented gorgeous woman."

Update 4/2/24, 10:55 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from Castillo.