"Saturday Night Live" could be announcing a new female African-American cast member soon. According to the Washington Post, "SNL" held secret auditions in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York just for black women.
A rep for the show confirmed that they will be adding one or two new members as early as January. According to the Huffington Post, over two dozen women came to the auditions. Reportedly a apecial audition will take place in Manhattan at the "SNL" stage for about seven or eight finalists.
The NBC show recently came under fire for their lack of diversity after Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah said they would no longer dress in drag in order to play black female characters. Thompson did an interview and said that "SNL" casting directors always had a hard time finding black female comediennes who were "ready."
The show poked fun at the controversy recently when they had Kerry Washington ("Scandal") appear as a guest. In the segment, Washington had to change several times in order to portray different black women. She started off as Michelle Obama, then changed into Oprah and then Beyonce.
Right before the segment aired "SNL" released the statement:
The producers at "Saturday Night Live" would like to apologize to Kerry Washington for the number of black women she will be asked to play tonight. We made these requests both because Ms. Washington is an actress of considerable range and talent and also because "SNL" does not currently have a black woman in the cast. As for the latter reason, we agree that this is not an ideal situation and look forward to rectifying it in the near future... unless of course, we fall in love with another white guy first.
Among the women invited to the secret audition included Bresha Webb ("Love that Girl"), Simone Sheperd, Tiffany Haldish, Beth Payne, Darmira Brunson and Gabrielle Dennis ("The Game").
Since the show's premier in 1975, it's only had four black women in their troupe with the last being biracial Maya Rudolph, who left in 2007.
