Saturday Night Live has found itself at the center of another controversy related to one of its sketches.
Their latest sketch, titled “Tourettes,” is taking a turn at what happened at the 2026 BAFTA Awards, where Scottish campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome and was the inspiration for the biopic I Swear, involuntarily yelled a racial slur at actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo while they were presenting. Though the skit was cut from the live broadcast, it was still made available across various platforms, garnering it millions of views.
SNL’s Intent: Satire or Insensitivity?
The skit featured a group of problematic celebrities, including Mel Gibson, J.K. Rowling, Armie Hammer, Jill Zarin, and Bill Cosby, to name a few, and made the joke that all of the horrible things that they had done were a byproduct of them having Tourette’s syndrome.
Fans of the show argued that the sketch was poking fun at the hypocrisy in a lot of the arguments online rather than ridiculing people with Tourettes specifically. However, many have criticized the sketch for being unacceptable, stressing that Tourette’s should not be a source of amusement, even leading the organization Tourette’s Action to openly denounce the sketch.
Beyond this organization, many people across all platforms have accused SNL of mishandling such a sensitive subject and inflicting damage following an already terrible sequence of events.
Context Matters
A key point in the debate isn’t just what SNL did, but when and how it did it.
The sketch was released in the shadow of an event that hurt and affected both the Black community and people with Tourette’s. The BAFTA incident was already a hot topic, creating heated debates around the topics of disability, media responsibility, and racial sensitivity. By translating that into comedy so quickly and in a way that many felt misrepresented Tourette’s, SNL touched a nerve. While this could have turned into a joke that encouraged sensitivity towards both of these groups, many believe the joke wasn’t executed well enough to bring that point home.
A Broader Cultural Reckoning
Ultimately, whether one thinks the sketch was humorous or cruel, the debate it started shows us that comedy has the ability to touch on touchy subjects in a way that is light, but it is important to approach these jokes with intention, care, and nuance. I and many others hope that the reaction to this skit serves as a reckoning for SNL about adjusting comedy to the ever-changing world we are in.
