Michael Phillips: About that ‘SNL’ student protest sketch — and a lousy time for political satire
Political satire, it wasn’t. The headlines from CNN, The Hollywood Reporter and many other media outlets — “‘SNL’ Takes Aim at Pro-Palestine Campus Protesters in Cold Open” reported The Daily Beast — framed it all wrong. It’s not political satire if you leave politics as well as satire out of it.
The sketch presented a community affairs panel TV show on NY1, featuring worried, conflicted parents talking about their confusion regarding the protests, police and administration retaliation, and encampments nationwide on higher-ed campuses.
“SNL” veteran Kenan Thompson, playing the father of a Columbia University undergrad senior, was the Black exception to the white panelists, busting his Uber-driving hump to cover the near-$70,000 in
