‘SNL’ Apologizes to Aimee Lou Wood for ‘Mean and Unfunny’ ‘White Lotus’ Parody

Aimee Lou Wood, one of the breakout stars of this season of HBO’s White Lotus, called out Saturday Night Live for last night’s White POTUS spoof featuring members of the Trump family. While I thought the sketch (and even the impression) was funny, I noted the unkind treatment of Wood: “Speaking of teeth, Sarah Sherman’s take on Chelsea, the young girlfriend with the prodigious overbite, is borderline cruel.” 

There’s not a lot to Sherman’s take on the character — the punchline is a prosthetic pair of comically large front teeth. When the sketch went viral this morning, Wood took to her Instagram Stories to share her honest reaction.

Wood referenced another article in which she expressed insecurities, making the point that HBO and White Lotus producer Mike White have been “super supportive” throughout the season.

“But whilst in honest mode — I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny xo,” she wrote, parenthetically admitting that she was in a mood and might decide to delete the clapback later.

“So to conclude today’s rant: @hbo — kind and supportive and have never wronged me so leave them alone,” she wrote. On the other hand, “@nbcsnl — mean.”

While that ended Wood’s mini-rant, she did share responses that supported her criticism of SNL. “On a positive note, everyone is agreeing with me about it so I’m glad I said something instead of going in on myself,” she wrote.

One user made a very fair point about the bit: “Everyone else in that parody was a political figure who was being mocked,” they said. “The only character who wasn’t political was Chelsea, and they were clearly just taking the piss out of your appearance/accent, which is extremely c*nty and uncalled for!”

“It was so mean,” another fan agreed. “they all went for politicians except for u. Like hello? Is this high school?”

“Don’t delete it,” said another. “It was mean and unfunny and saying it out loud removes their power.”

Further into her story, Wood revealed that “I’ve got THOUSANDS of messages in agreement with me since pointing that out. Thanks guys — glad I said something.” She punctuated the statement with the bulging bicep emoji.

And as further proof that it’s good to speak out when a joke hurts your feelings?