It took a while for Colin Jost and Michael Che to really get into a rhythm on "Weekend Update." However, three years into their stint, Jost and Che have obviously gotten into the spirit of things, producing a lengthy segment featuring the two verbally sparring about the recent sports protests during the National Anthem, as started by the 49ers player Colin Kaepernick. The sketch took a turn when Michael Che unceremoniously dropped an n-bomb on live TV.
Michael Che started out the bit in a pretty lighthearted manner:
If the National Anthem was so important how did they know someone was kneeling? How did they even notice? That's how boring the National Anthem is. Halfway through it, you're looking around the stadium like I wonder what the backup quarterback for the 49ers is up to?
Regardless, it was the n-word he dropped later in the bit that has attracted the most discussion on social media. The comment was even more over-the-top, because it featured Che cracking a joke about Bill Cosby and his former Cosby Show co-star Phylicia Rashad. Following the n-bomb, Michael Che did take a slightly more serious tack, as "Weekend Update" very occasionally does.
And I'm sure it's an inconvenient time to bring up such a heavy during a football game. But it's a protest. It's supposed to be inconvenient. That's the whole point of a protest.
He then went on to compare the Colin Kaepernick protest to the fact that football uniforms will soon be pink for breast cancer awareness. That joke led to him talking about unarmed boobies, taking things from serious to seriously amusing again.
Chevy Chase famously used the n-word during a back-and-forth with Richard Pryor during Saturday Night Live's first season. That exchange wound up being one of the most memorable in SNL's history, but something tells me this one won't have quite the same shelf life. Still, between the n-bomb drop and the lengthy back and forth between Michael Che and Colin Jost on this sketch, a lot happened to help kick off "Weekend Update" Season 2 with a whole new flair.
The episode also featured the introduction of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, a casting that happened after Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah were fired from the series before the season began. If you'd like to catch "Weekend Update" next week, you can do so when SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on Saturdays. You can also find out when your favorite shows are set to premiere with our fall TV premiere schedule.
