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While it appears that producers of the hit sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live took steps to address its lack of diversity by adding one black woman to its on-air staff and two black female writers, the show is once again in the spotlight for its portrayal of blacks.

Leslie Jones, one of the writers brought on to the show, made her debut appearance this past weekend and people weren’t impressed with her “slave draft skit.” 

From Washington Post:

In her first on-camera appearance on the show, Jones congratulated Lupita Nyong’o on winning People magazine’s “Most Beautiful Person” award, then argued for a “most useful” category for herself, asserting to “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost that she would be his pick if he were approached by three Crips in a dark parking lot. “The way we view black beauty has changed,” Jones said. “See, I’m single right now, but back in the slave days, I would have never been single. I’m six feet tall and I’m strong, Colin. Strong! I mean, look at me, I’m a mandingo … I’m just saying that back in the slave days, my love life would have been way better. Massah would have hooked me up with the best brotha on the plantation  … I would be the No. 1 slave draft pick.”

After a joke about announcing which plantation she would choose, likening the decision to the NBA draft, Jones said, “Now, I can’t even get a brotha to take me out for a cheap dinner. I mean, damn. Can a b—– get a beef bowl?”

Read more at Washington Post

By referring to herself as a mandingo, Jones inserted a term already linked to negative connotations about black men. She also takes on the distinction that black women struggle with asserting and defining their femininity.

Jones took to Twitter to address the controversy:

 

Click here to read the rest of Jones’ comments.

 

Is racism ever appropriate to joke about?

Did Jones and SNL take it too far?

Sound off below!