Colin Farrell Called Out “Saturday Night Live” For Its Drunk Irish Stereotype In A Skit
Just when we thought that nobody bothered watching Saturday Night Live anymore, Colin Farrell might’ve reinstated public interest with a sprinkle of shade towards the sketch show during the 2023 Academy Awards. Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel descended down from the stage for the part of the show where he puts a mic in the face of audience members to ask questions from “fans” (aka the Oscars writer’s room). After terrorizing activist and human embodiment of world peace Malala Yousafzai, Jimmy stepped up to Colin Farrell to ask a question on behalf of “Joey from Las Vegas,” saying, “Colin, I loved your performance in The Banshees of Inisherin, my question is, what were you saying in the movie?” Colin hit back with, “I’d like him to go on Youtube and check out SNL last night and he’ll have a good idea.”
Since Will Smith wasn’t there to bring the drama, Colin took over the reins by taking on Saturday Night Live’s Oscar red carpet skit, which begs the question, where was Jenny The Donkey?? During the sketch, Marcello Hernandez and Heidi Gardner played Access Hollywood reporters interviewing Oscar nominees. Mikey Day and Molly Kearny played Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who confused Marcello and Heidi’s ears with their Irish accents. That made Marcello say, “Wow, and they haven’t started drinking yet!” via The Independent:
The episode began with a cold open sketch set on the Oscars red carpet, in which presenters Mario Lopez and “Maria Menounos or Kit Hoover” (Marcello Hernandez and Heidi Gardner) interviewed various “celebrities”.
Mikey Day and Molly Kearny appear as Farrell and Banshees of Inisherin co-star Brendan Gleeson in the sketch, speaking in a near-unintelligible dialect.
“Wow, and they haven’t even started drinking yet!” Hernandez responds, as Lopez.
Here’s the sketch:
All the stars are out at the Oscars pic.twitter.com/BHKygkLJPW
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 12, 2023
Colin Farrell wasn’t the only one who (slightly) dragged the sketch. Others called it out since Colin is a recovering addict:
God, this is absolutely dreadful stuff @nbcsnl. I’m Irish and I find this more disappointing than I find it offensive – if worn out Irish stereotypes are the best your writers can come up with then I think SNL’s future looks like it’ll be pretty unremarkable. Do better.
— Andrew Quinn (@AndrewEQuinn) March 12, 2023
I'm actually gutted for Colin Farrell. Such a talented, charismatic, genuinely lovely man who delivered a belter of a performance in Banshees. Not winning is one thing, but not winning after that awful SNL skit that took the piss out of himself and Gleeson… It's just a bit sad
— Cian Maher (@cianmaher0) March 13, 2023
Was SNL ever actually funny? The ‘joke’ at 0.59 was tasteless and tiresome. Tasteless, because Colin Farrell has very publicly struggled with addiction and hasn’t drank in years. Tiresome, because 1/5 Irish people are teetotal and a good chunk more (🙋♂️) may as well be. https://t.co/ZmF9PFScKe
— Anthony Kennelly (@ADJKennelly) March 12, 2023
It’s still unclear if Colin was pissed about the bumbling impression of him, or the writers referring to Irish people as drunks, or just the whole bit entirely, but one thing is for sure, and it’s that SNL overlord Lorne Michaels is just glad people are talking about SNL again!
PICS: INSTARImages