Saturday Night Live UK wasted no time in spoofing the recent Kanye West Wireless controversy.
The newly launched British edition of the American sketch show is well and truly underway. In its fourth week, the series took on timely topics including the cancellation of the London music festival.
The sketch, praised by some viewers as “hilarious”, saw three of the cast mates – Jack Shep, Al Nash and Annabel Marlow – play “Never Have I Ever”, a game in which someone says something that they have never done and the other players must take a drink if they have done it.
“Never have I ever kissed two boys on one night,” Shep says, to which Marlow replies: “Guilty!”
Marlow then offers: “Never have I ever accidentally booked a neo-Nazi to headline a music festival for three nights.”
“Girl, you said you wouldn’t bring that up!” Shep shoots back.
Last week, the music festival was officially cancelled after the artist, who now goes by Ye, was banned from entering the UK over his antisemitic comments. His application to enter the country via an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) was blocked by officials amid controversy over his scheduled festival appearance.
The “Gold Digger” rapper had been due to headline all three days of Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park in London this July.
A statement issued by Wireless announcing the cancellation on Tuesday (7 April) read: “The Home Office has withdrawn Ye’s ETA, denying him entry into the United Kingdom. As a result, Wireless festival is cancelled and refunds will be issued to all ticket holders.
“As with every Wireless festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking Ye and no concerns were highlighted at the time. Antisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognise the real and personal impact these issues have had.
“As Ye said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, and in spite of this still hopes to be given the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the UK.”
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It is understood that West’s ETA was initially granted online before ministers intervened. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Kanye West should never have been invited to headline Wireless.
“This Government stands firmly with the Jewish community and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism. We will always take the action necessary to protect the public and uphold our values.”
The rapper has been heavily criticised for making several antisemitic remarks including voicing praise for Adolf Hitler. Last year, he self-released a song titled “Heil Hitler” months after selling a swastika T-Shirt on his website.
In January, he took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising “To Those I’ve Hurt” for his antisemitic behaviour and actions, which he attributed to his bipolar disorder.
In a statement issued hours before the government’s decision was announced, Ye offered to “meet and listen” to members of the UK’s Jewish community.
“I’ve been following the conversation around Wireless and want to address it directly,” he wrote. “My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music.
“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen. I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
Elsewhere in the same sketch on SNL UK, Emma Sidi appeared as Melania Trump to skewer the First Lady’s recent statement in which she claimed she never had a relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Why do you keep bringing up all the Epstein stuff?” Marlow asks in the sketch, as Shep adds: “Yeah like, your husband literally started a war to distract us all from it.”
Sidi’s Melania then begs for “one last chance” with her friends, saying that she no longer has any “since they all died in a maximum security prison”.
To solidify their new friendship, she offers up “two truths and a lie”, stating: “I love my new friends, I like poor people – wink, wink – and live from London, it’s Saturday Night!”
