Saturday Night Live is facing criticism for making a Hamas joke during this weekend’s episode.
People called the show “insensitive,” “tasteless” and “not funny” for referencing the Palestinian militant group in a sketch starring host Timothée Chalamet and comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy.
In the pre-taped bit, three passersby try to convince Timothée’s character, an aspiring musician, not to jump off a building to his death.
Though the man’s music was truly atrocious, they promise to support him on social media ― until learning his band is called “Hamas,” pronounced “Hay-mus”.
“Dude, I’m not sharing a song by Hamas on Instagram!” one of them shouts at the Oscar nominee.
After the sketch aired, people wondered why SNL would make Hamas the punchline following the attacks on Israel in October which killed a reported 1,200 people.
More than 10,000 people have reportedly died since Israel began bombing Northern Gaza in retaliation. As blockades leave Gaza with dangerously low levels of power, food, fuel and water, human right groups have declared a humanitarian crisis in the region.
“Most celebrities aren’t even bothered to say a single thing about the current situation but then they go on and make extremely tasteless jokes about people getting murdered,” one person tweeted.
“America at its best as usual. while you sit in your mansions and make jokes, children are getting bombed.”
“Making jokes about an ongoing genocide?” another posted to X, formerly Twitter. “When people are actually dying every single second of the day? So fucking disgusting these people are sick, fuck Timothée Chalamet, fuck SNL.”
Others wondered why this particular conflict was the butt of the joke, after SNL showed such reverence for Ukrainians after the nation came under attack by Russia.
“The difference for Ukraine… unbelievable,” someone wrote with a video of the candlelight vigil SNL held during a February 2022 episode.
Many more had more blunt reactions. As one person posted, “timothée chalamet can go to hell bc wtf.”
See more reactions on X below: