SNL: Ayo Edebiri addresses resurfaced mocking of Jennifer Lopez during live sketch
The Emmy-winning star of ‘The Bear’ joked that Lopez’s career is ‘one long scam’ during 2020 podcast appearance
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Bear star Ayo Edebiri used a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch to apologise for making mocking comments about Jennifer Lopez.
The jokes at Lopez’s expense, which were made on a podcast in 2020, resurfaced this week after it was announced that Edebiri would be hosting the long-running sketch show – while Lopez would be the musical act on the same episode.
In March 2020, Edebiri had appeared on the Scam Goddess podcast, in which comedians discuss “scams” throughout history. In her episode, she jokingly described Lopez’s entire career as “one long scam”.
She also referenced a long-standing urban legend that Lopez uses ghost singers on her songs, adding: “I think she thinks that she’s still good even though, like, she’s not singing for most of these songs.”
On last night’s episode of SNL (3 February), Edebiri appeared to apologise mid-sketch for her comments about Lopez. In the sketch, she played a contestant on a game show called “Why’d You Say It?”, in which players are asked to explain why they’d posted negative comments online.
At one point, Edebiri’s character said: “We get it! It’s wrong to leave mean comments, or run your mouth on a podcast and you don’t consider the impact because you’re 24 and stupid.
“But I think I speak for everyone when I say that from now on we’re going to be a lot more thoughtful about what we post online!”
The 28-year-old’s hosting gig on SNL is the latest in a run of successes for the rising star, who last month won an Emmy for The Bear. Her recent film work include the hit 2023 comedy Bottoms and voice roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
On the Emmy red carpet last month, Edebiri shared that she didn’t dream of awards while growing up and instead dreamt of one day being able to afford “dental insurance”.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Edebiri is also nominated for the Bafta EE Rising Star award alongside Talk to Me’s Sophie Wilde, Saltburn’s Jacob Elordi, Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor and How to Have Sex’s Mia McKenna-Bruce.
Voting for the award is now open at ee.co.uk/BAFTA until 12pm GMT on Friday 16 February. The winner will be announced at the EE Bafta Film Awards on Sunday 18 February
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments