Following a Saturday Night Live skit that mocked people with peanut allergies, suggesting they should just “take a Benadryl” and shut up, moms of the severely allergic have been speaking out on social media. Such jokes, they say, gaslight people with allergies and contribute to bullying that can turn deadly.
“Satire is so powerful—it can highlight social flaws. But to us, there’s blind spot about food allergies to begin with, and this type of joke just magnifies it,” Lianne Mandelbaum, mom to a 19-year-old son with a deadly peanut allergy and founder of the advocacy nonprofit the No Nut Traveler, tells Fortune.
