“Saturday Night Live” cast member Bowen Yang appeared to tense up and withdraw from the show’s good-night segment last weekend when comic Dave Chappelle appeared on stage. (Watch the video below.)
Media outlets were buzzing about Yang’s reaction to the controversial comedian, a 2022 “SNL” guest host who has been accused of making transphobic jokes in his stand-up act. Chappelle had no role in Saturday’s show.
In clip shared by “SNL,” guest host Dakota Johnson thanks musical guest Justin Timberlake and others while Yang, who is gay, appears to be disengaged.
At first he stands at the left wing, appearing disinterested with his hands clasped. Then he and castmate Sarah Sherman seem to briefly discuss Chappelle’s presence. Yang claps unenthusiastically as he looks in another direction and gets a hug from Sherman.
The small moment got big play from outlets like The Advocate, which reported that Yang looked “visibly uncomfortable,” and Deadline, which wrote that Yang “didn’t seem too thrilled” and distanced himself from Chappelle.
Chappelle served as guest host in November 2022, prompting a reported boycott among some “SNL” writers over his transphobic material and a perceived “silent protest” when Yang, Sherman and nonbinary castmate Molly Kearney did not take the stage for Chappelle’s goodbye, according to The Advocate.
But on that night, Chappelle took more heat for a monologue that was criticized as antisemitic.
HuffPost has reached out to Yang’s reps and “SNL.”
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