“Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che responded this week after a skit he wrote sparked backlash and claims of cultural appropriation.
“SNL” ran a skit over the weekend poking fun at Generation Z’s use of slang language, with social media users pointing out that some of the words originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
The show incorporated popular online phrases such as “bruh,” “stan,” “no cap” and “sis” and attributed them to Gen Z and others on social media instead of AAVE and the African American community, Deadline noted.
Some social media users took offense to the skit, saying it didn’t give credit to Black people who created the terms.
white kids in Minnesota talking about “gang shit” and “spilling tea” bitch fuck off!
— embalming fluid (@kewashere) May 9, 2021
Che, who created the sketch, responded on his Instagram page on Monday in a since-deleted posted, Mediaite reported.
“I’ve been reading about how my ‘gen z’ sketch was misappropriating AAVE and I was stunned cause what the f**k is ‘AAVE’? I had to look it up,” he wrote in the post that was later removed.
“Turns out it’s an acronym for ‘African American vernacular english.’ You know, AAVE! That ol’ saying that actual black people use in conversation all the time,” Che continued. “Look, the sketch bombed. I’m used to that. I meant no offense to the ‘aave’ community. I love aave. Aave to the moon!”
The sketch was included in the show’s latest episode hosted by Tesla founder Elon Musk
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Che previously came out in support of Musk hosting the program, saying on “Late Night” last week, “He’s the richest man in the world. How could you not be excited for that?”