The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood has revealed Saturday Night Live apologized to her after she called out the long-running variety series for making fun of her teeth in a recent sketch.
Wood took to her Instagram page on Sunday (April 13), where she criticized the “White Potus” skit, which parodied the HBO drama by imagining President Donald Trump and his associates at a luxury resort. In the sketch, SNL cast member Sarah Sherman impersonated Wood, appearing in large prosthetic teeth.
“Whilst in honest mode – I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny,” the Sex Education star wrote, adding that she might delete the post later. Fans encouraged her to keep the post up, and she later noted that the show had reached out to apologize.
In a series of follow-up posts, Wood continued, “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago. Yes, take the p**s for sure – that’s what the show is about – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”
Aimee Lou Wood Instagram
Wood was referring to a joke in the skit where Walton Goggins‘ character Rick, reimagined as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ranted about fluoride, to which Wood’s character replies, “Fluoride? What’s that?”
“Last thing I’ll say on the matter. I am not thin skinned. I actually love being taken the p**s out of when it’s clever and in good spirits,” Wood added. “But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth not bad teeth. I don’t mind caricature – I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”
Aimee Lou Wood Instagram
The Toxic Town actress did see a silver lining, though, noting, “On a positive note, everyone is agreeing with me about it so I’m glad I said something instead of going in on myself.”
She followed up by sharing a message from a fan, which read, “‘It was a sharp and funny skit until it suddenly took a screeching turn into 1970’s misogyny.” Wood captioned the message, writing, “This sums up my view.”
Wood did return with a later post to make it clear she didn’t blame Sherman for the skit but rather the concept of the sketch itself. “Not hating on her, hating on the concept,” she wrote.
Saturday Night Live, Saturdays, 11:30/10:30c, NBC
