Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon appeared during the show’s Weekend Update segment tonight (5 March) to speak out about a bill in Florida which would outlaw any “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity”.
Initially, McKinnon had voiced ironic support for the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill’. “
I think it’s amazing,” joked McKinnon. “When I was in middle school in the Nineties, I was kind of, like, tortured by the constant use of the word ‘gay’ – like, ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘ew, you’re gay.’ It made me feel so horrible. So, to hear that Ron DeSantis has taken a stand and said, ‘No! You cannot say ‘gay’ in school anymore!’ I’m so jazzed. And in Florida of all places!”
It was left to segment host Colin Jost to clarify the proposed legislation’s homophobic nature.
“I feel like there’s been a misunderstanding,” he said. “The law actually means that you can’t acknowledge that gay exists at all. Teachers can’t speak about gay people in history or if a kid has a gay family member, and if a kid confides that they’re gay to a teacher, the teacher has to out them to their parents.”
McKinnon went on to mock the Bill, asking what its purpose was and deliberately saying ‘gay’ as many times as possible: “I am deeply gay – sorry, concerned. Deeply concerned. It just feels like this is going to make kids gay and trans - sorry, depressed and suicidal – and I think these laws are lesbian, sorry, unconscionable.”
She concluded: “Look, Colin. If the Nineties were right, and gay means bad, then this is the gayest law I have ever seen. So kids, listen up, if you can’t say it you might as well sing it.” She then proceeded to sing the word “gay” over and over to the tune of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”
The 5 March episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by Oscar Isaac, who was making his debut in the role.
The musical guest was Charli XCX, who had originally been set to perform back on 18 December before that episode, hosted by Paul Rudd, was drastically downsized due to the surge of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 pandemic.
XCX also appeared in a sketch, playing a singing meatball.
