Screengrab via YouTube
Saturday Night Live comedian and actress Leslie Jones reached out to television’s top computer genius to find out who hacked her website over the summer. The result was a little, well, hackneyed.
The premiere episode of the latest season of Saturday Night Live had its ups and downs. Alec Baldwin scored yuge with his impression of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but host Margot Robbie, a talented comedic actress herself, went heavily under-utilised throughout the episode.
One of the highlights was the closing sketch, a parody of Mr. Robot featuring SNL featured player Pete Davidson as a pretty convincing Rami Malek. In the sketch, Jones reached out to the hacker to get him to figure out who hacked her website and released private photos and information onto the internet. After a series of jokes poking fun at Jones’ lack of computer skills (her password is literally “password”), it turns out she probably hacked herself.
I can understand her desire to be self-deprecating in light of a really horrible situation, but this seems like a pretty insulting conclusion if you pause to think about it. People who’ve had private photos hacked and released are often told that they brought it upon themselves by taking the photos in the first place. It even happened to Jones herself. Why the sketch put her in the hot seat of something she’s not responsible for is beyond me.
It’s possible that it was designed to be a commentary on the fact that we often blame women for having their private photos hacked and released. However, if that’s the case, it was really poorly executed. There was no indication that having Jones’ face inside the manila envelope was anything other than a quick ending, followed by a joke about how pale Eliot is. Although she’s right, that kid is a sheet.
In the end, it’s Jones’ story, and she can respond to it any way she pleases through her comedy. It just didn’t work for me.
[UPROXX]