Michael Che of “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update is not a stranger to controversy. In fact, the comedian has continuously and purposefully attempted to upset viewers to get a laugh. Sometimes it’s comical, and other times less so. For example, Che angered the entire Boston community whilst talking about the upcoming Super Bowl back in February, when he said “I just want to relax, turn my brain off, and watch the blackest city in America beat the most racist city I’ve ever been to.”
This is a pretty loaded comment. Since he said it, Che hasn’t apologized. In fact, he’s backed up his comment with jokes about his grandma and suggested people who are offended to talk to their “closest black friend.” He hasn’t explained why he believes Boston to be the absolute most racist city he’s ever been to, and it wouldn’t be incorrect to assume he’s traveled to many. If the public was given an explanation, perhaps the uproar over his statement wouldn’t be so loud. But two months later, we’re still left without an answer.
On Thursday night, Che took a visit to Boston University’s own Metcalf Ballroom at the George Sherman Union. When the “Saturday Night Live” star was called out about his allegations, while visiting the very city he accused of racism, he stood by his comment with no visible guilt or awkwardness, according to an article from The Boston Globe. Since then, he has been posting articles related to his statement on Instagram, but has never gone back to the root of the issue.
The articles referencing his comments haven’t done anything more than summarized and quoted what Che said. They haven’t included untrue or opinionated statements. Yet, Che still feels the need to call them out. Obviously he has the right to say whatever he pleases, as an American and as a comedian, but he is deflecting answers with laughter and wasting his platform that could be used to induce social and racial change. If he truly feels like Boston has a problem, telling his personal story will have much more of an impact than laughing it off. As students in this city, it’s hard to hear that the population within an extremely progressive state is capable of holding such racist tendencies. We’d like to hear his anecdote, know the context and learn something from it. He’s allowed to make a joke, but should have the facts to back it up, especially when his comment hits so close to home.
So many people have been up in arms about Che’s accusation because of Boston’s tumultuous history with racism. We’d like to think that Boston and Massachusetts have been at the forefront of progressivism, and with some issues they have been. But this isn’t the case for every social, economic or political issue. Cases from the 1970s about racism within Boston would shock current students in college, whose parents were teenagers at that time. Che’s comment may have been a joke, but Boston’s controversial history has made it into much more. Does the city still deserve that title? It’s hard to say as college students living in the university bubble, but it is an unnecessary assertion without the facts to back it up.
Honestly, Che could’ve concocted this entire dramatic scene for publicity. It’s not like the comedian hasn’t made such outrageous remarks before. In 2014, Che made some quite offensive Instagram comments about how women shouldn’t be offended for being told to smile more. His post read: “I wanna apologize to all the women that ive harrassed with statements like ‘hi’ or ‘have a nice day’ or ‘youre beautiful.’ I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”
Women everywhere were insulted by the comedian’s naiveté, even if he was just trying to “make a joke.” Quite frankly, he tries to keep up the persona of a jerk. He wasn’t trying to bring light to Boston’s inherent problem with racism, but to publicize himself.
While sometimes comedy is the best way to address uncomfortable topics, it’s a shame to see Che losing an important opportunity to start meaningful dialogue. “SNL” especially has become known as a platform that isn’t afraid to criticize the problems of today. By just bouncing around words without really saying anything, posting jokes to Instagram and avoiding important questions, Che is simply benefitting from the attention.
Che originally referred to Boston as the country’s most racist city when explaining why he was rooting for the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta’s police force is so bad that Somali refugees settled in the area in the 1990s left for, you guessed it, New England. Che is from New York, also home to such paragons of racial justice as Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico, the officers who strangled Eric Garner, and Sean Carroll, who murdered Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in the late 1990s. Those who live in glass penthouses ought not cast stones.