Saturday Night Live's 50th-anniversary special stirred controversy on Sunday with a segment reflecting on past moments that have not aged well. The show's producers aired an "In Memoriam" reel, traditionally used to honor deceased cast members, but instead dedicated it to outdated sketches and controversial guests, including Sean "Diddy" Combs and R. Kelly.
Tom Hanks introduced the segment, leading viewers to believe it would pay tribute to SNL alumni who had passed away, such as Chris Farley and Norm Macdonald. However, Hanks instead noted that the segment would recognize "SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly." He added, "Even though these characters, accents and, let's just call them ethnic wigs, were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them."
The montage highlighted various categories of now-questionable humor, including "ethnic stereotypes" and "sexual harassment." Under the heading "problematic guests," clips featuring Combs and Kelly appeared. The footage showed Combs making a reference to Kelly during a 2010 episode hosted by Robert De Niro. The montage also included a moment from 2013 in which Lady Gaga thanked Kelly after a musical performance with the disgraced singer.
Combs, who faces multiple allegations of sexual assault and is awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges set for May, appeared on SNL as a musical guest in 1998 alongside Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and again in 2010 as part of the trio Diddy-Dirty Money. Kelly, currently serving a prison sentence for sex crimes including child pornography charges, was never a solo musical guest but performed on the show with Lady Gaga.
Other figures included in the segment were O.J. Simpson, who was famously acquitted of the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson but later convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping, and actor Robert Blake, who was acquitted in the murder of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle, currently serving a prison sentence for child sex crimes, was also featured.
SNL's approach to revisiting its history drew mixed reactions. Some viewers praised the show's willingness to acknowledge its past missteps, while others criticized it for including certain figures, arguing that highlighting them in a comedic context diminished the gravity of their alleged or convicted crimes.
