It is now safe. Did you hear that, Saturday Night Live? It is now safe to satirize Jussie Smollett.
After weeks of fearing to tread into this area of comedy due to not wanting to challenge the official line that Jussie Smollett was the victim of a hate crime perpetrated by MAGA hat types, despite a lot of evidence that this was actually a hoax, the comedy floodgates seemed to have finally opened this week. On Friday night the Daily Show presented an hilarious skit brutally mocking Smollett in the form of a Lifetime movie parody.
This new attitude towards Smollett is in stark contrast to a few days ago when the Daily Show host, Trevor Noah, discussed the Smollet situation in a mostly serious manner although a bit of humor did creep through.
So what was responsible for the change in comedy attitude? Perhaps it was because Jussie Smollett lost his victimhood status because of the searing report delivered this week by the Chicago police chief. Or it might have been due to Charles Barkley throwing comedy shade upon Smollett on Thursday's Inside the NBA which made it okay for celebrity comedians to follow suit.
“America, let me just tell you something, do not commit crimes with checks. If you’re gonna break the law, do not write a check. Get cash, man.”
And now that it is "safe" to satirize Jussie Smollett, we can expect to see a lot of comedy mocking him in the days and weeks to come. There is already a Star Trek review of this hate crime hoax.
Is it safe? Yes, SNL, you no longer have to worry about carefully following the NBC PC norms. It is now safe for comedy to satirize the guy who wanted victimhood sympathy but ended up living in the nightmare of his own making by being laughed at now and forever...unto the end of time.
