From the pre-show promos — in which Sydney joked about her “weirdly” large male fanbase — to the night’s skits — where the Euphoria star played parts like a Hooters server and a lusting cheerleader — it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by viewers that a lot of the material hinged on her attractiveness.
So, because Sydney had previously talked about the pain of being constantly sexualized, many fans felt that SNL’s writers had done her a disservice by centering so much of the material around her looks.
After the episode aired, Vanity Fair published an article titled, “Saturday Night Live Did Sydney Sweeney Dirty.” At the same time, the Daily Beast called out the show’s “lazy habit of objectifying” its hosts — highlighting that Jacob Elordi’s hosting debut earlier that season included just as many jokes about his looks.
And now, SNL cast member Bowen Yang has responded to the backlash, recalling that Sydney was totally on board with the body-related humor and had been the one to encourage the jokes from the start.
“She came in and was like, ‘Please, everyone, make jokes about my boobs,’” he revealed on this week’s episode of the Fly On The Wall podcast. “She was practically begging everybody.”
Notably, this echoed what Sydney previously said about the SNL backlash, telling GQ that it was a deliberate choice to play into the public’s perception of her.