Michael Che Defends ‘SNL Weekend Update’ Partner From Writer’s Scorn

NBC

Don’t mess with Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update team. That was the takeaway after segment co-star Michael Che posted a series of vulgar rebuttals to an article attacking his fellow host, Colin Jost.

In an Uproxx article titled Why Does Everyone (Still) Hate ‘SNL”s Colin Jost?, writer Steven Hyden took issue with the host’s demeanor on the segment.

“Nobody has been quite as disliked, while also being as central to the show, as Jost. Among the people I know who like ‘SNL,’ Jost (at best) is a benign presence whose essential blandness precludes feeling one way or the other about his tenure on ‘Weekend Update,’ or (at worst) a smug hack who relies far too often on easy, frat-dude punchlines about porno movies and penis sizes,” Hyden wrote.

Hyden also mentioned that most of his Twitter feed seems to hate SNL. “Jost is nothing less than the epitome of white-male mediocrity, an empty vessel who is handsome (but not that handsome), smart enough (but not all that smart), and, well, passably funny (though only if you grade on a generous curve). He seems less like a comedian than a cardboard ’80s movie villain — like James Spader if he looked like a beefier Andrew McCarthy — with zero self-consciousness when it comes to bragging about how he gets his boat shoes wet at the finest beaches in the Hamptons.”

Che responded with a series of Instagram stories, most of them vulgar and since deleted, but captured by some in screen grabs. Hyden had written that Che was funnier than Jost, but that was not enough to spare him the rod.

Hyden took the attacks in stride in his Twitter response.

“Dear Michael Che, I don’t feel harassed,” Hyden tweeted. “Your bit about me having sex with dogs was hilarious. Have a nice Easter. Your pal, Steve.”