Everyone claims that every subject has a ‘line’ that can crossed in inappropriate situations. Mostly directed towards jokes, there is a clear distinction between someone being blatantly offensive and plainly making fun of them. In shows like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show, the comedians make jokes about current events in a way that is “okay” with the public mostly because of the fact that the show is considered a comedy. Saturday Night Live is another example, the Emmy award winning comedy has been on the air for almost three decades and has one sole goal – to make the audience laugh. Every Saturday night during the season at 11:30pm, a cast full of comedians along with one selected celebrity host and musical performance entertain the live audience and millions watch the various satire skits.
Saturday Feb. 28, 2015 the show was hosted by actress Dakota Johnson, and a while into the show, a SNL skit was played that would soon cause much controversy throughout the nation. The skit was based off the original Toyota Camry commercial that aired during Superbowl 54. In the original commercial, a proud father drops his daughter off at the airport as she leaves to join the US Army. In the SNL remake, Johnson plays the role of a daughter being dropped off by her father as she leaves to join the terrorist group known as ISIS. Other than the Toyota commercial, the emotional farewell by the father was an indirect reference to the case that had happened earlier that week, when three high school girls from England allegedly left their homes to join ISIS.
Immediately that night and well into the next morning, social media was full of comments regarding the skit that mocked the ongoing threat of the terrorist group. The next morning the news was full of the reporter’s responses to the skit. “Fox & Friends” reporter Elisabeth Hasselbeck was full of rage towards the mocking of the terrorist group and accused NBC and SNL of being “insensitive,” according to CNN news, as well as saying that the scene “had insulted the men and women who risk their lives to fight terrorism.”
SNL has been known to satirize current events that are happening, however many are arguing that the producers crossed the line. Others, argue that teasing groups like ISIS that pose a threat to the U.S is a great way to get back at them because people are not living in fear, and are instead laughing at them. The question stands as the situation furthers: did SNL cross a line or were they just trying to ‘lighten the mood’?
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