It’s become very common for celebrities to get themselves into (at least) a bit of trouble from time to time as they traverse the wildlands of social media. Unfortunately for former Will & Grace star Debra Messing, this happened to her recently after she wondered aloud on Twitter about the validity of Saturday Night Live giving a hosting gig to reality TV queen / fashion mogul Kim Kardashian. Folks wasted zero seconds in coming for the Emmy-winning actress, and now Messing has explained her criticism of Kardashian’s SNL gig with an apology.
It was about a month ago when Debra Messing decided to pose her question about Kim Kardashian hosting SNL to Twitter, noting that the Skims founder didn’t seem to have anything to promote, despite being “a cultural icon,” and asked fans to explain why she was chosen for the job. A lot of people thought Messing was trolling the former Mrs. West, and made it clear that they disagreed with her supposed shade. Messing appeared on the Tamron Hall Show recently, and when asked about the incident, said:
I was not intending to troll her. If anybody took it that way, I apologize…I am someone who grew up with SNL. I love comedy, and they have had, for decades, this sort of formula, and I noticed that they changed the formula. I was like, ‘Oh, does she have a new TV show coming out? Does she have a book coming out? Does she have a movie?’ And she didn’t have anything coming out; actually her show had just wrapped, so I was just confused.
According to Messing, she was really just posing the question about Kardashian’s inaugural SNL hosting stint because it didn’t seem to make sense, because of what she knew about the history of the show’s hosts. Seeing as how Keeping Up with the Kardashians had ended not long before it was announced that she’d hit the famed 30 Rock stage, Messing is saying she simply assumed the producers had changed the way they did things, or that Kardashian had a project coming out soon that she was unaware of.
As you will probably know, Kardashian and the rest of her famous family does have a new show coming to Hulu, but that’s not due to begin airing until sometime after the new year. However, as fans pointed out to Messing on social media, many people have hosted SNL without being performers or having something new to promote. The show has been led by a number of athletes, politicians, and even business moguls like Elon Musk, whose appointment supposedly caused its own bit of trouble. And, Kardashian seemed to take her comments in stride, even poking fun at them in the promo for her appearance.
Messing continued to explain, and noted that she did tune in for Kardashian’s episode:
I watched her and she was amazing, and I was rooting for her. If you know me and you follow me, then you know that I consistently lift up women. I support women. So, I hope that people understand that [trolling] was never my intention.
It’s good that Debra Messing has cleared the air about her Kim Kardashian commentary. Luckily, it didn’t seem to have a negative impact on the show or host, who got pretty good reviews for her first hosting gig, and helped Season 47 along in only its second week. Former SNL cast member and Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis is hosting on October 23, but for more to watch, check out our 2021 fall TV schedule!
