Aimee Lou Wood says her ‘SNL’ portrayal was ‘mean and unfunny’
Jon Hamm, Scarlett Johansson and Lizzo assisted the cast in ‘The White Lotus’ spoof ‘The White Potus’
Aimee Lou Wood has responded to Sarah Sherman’s portrayal of her on White Lotus character on Saturday Night Live, describing it as “mean and unfunny.”
The five-minute sketch, which you can watch below, spoofs Mike White’s beloved HBO series and gives it a MAGA update. Jon Hamm, the episode’s guest star, is an RFK Jr. version of Walton Goggins‘ character Rick Hatchett. Instead of fulfilling his lifelong revenge on the man who killed his father, he’s holding a syringe full of measles, contemplating removing fluoride from the country’s drinking water, and on the verge of eating a monkey. Sherman appears as Wood’s character Chelsea, adopting her heavy Manchester accent and prominent gap teeth.
In her Instagram story, Wood had already been addressing comments she gave in a recent interview to GQ Hype, where she revealed that Mike White fought with HBO to cast her in the series. “It was honestly from the nicest place, but my little head goes: ‘HBO didn’t want me. And I know why HBO didn’t want me, it’s because I’m ugly,’” she said. “Mike had to say ‘Please let me have the ugly girl!’”
She clarified the comments on Instagram, writing “Nobody at HBO called me ugly!! I just spiraled about it because of my own imposter syndrome… But whilst in honest mode, I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny xo.” She added: “Felt righteous, might delete later.”
In another Instagram story hours later, Wood added that she is “not thin skinned. I actually love being taken the piss out of when it’s clever in good spirits. But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth not bad teeth.”
She continued: “ I don’t mind caricature – I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on … Not Sarah Squirm’s fault and not hating on her. Hating on the concept.”
Three hours after her initial post, Wood returned to Instagram Stories to say that SNL had apologised to her, as well as poke fun at herself:
Elsewhere in the SNL sketch, James Austin Johnson stars as Trump, only he’s Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs), internally imploding with stress about his recent tanking of the economy. Other characters include Chloe Fineman as Melania/Parker Posey’s character Victoria, Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka/Sarah Catherine Hook’s Piper, Lizzo as Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda, and more.
While it’s been one week since the finale aired, the show has remained in the news, particularly involving its divisive finale and the heavily-rumored feud between Wood and Goggins. However, neither actor has formally addressed it.
This article was updated to include additional statements Wood made via Instagram stories.