NEWSSydney Sweeney 'Begged' 'Saturday Night Live' to 'Make Jokes' About Her Body During Hosting Debut, Bowen Yang Claims After Show Received Backlash
Sydney Sweeney leaned into the public's obsession with her attractive assets when hosting 'Saturday Night Live' back in March.
Sydney Sweeney was totally fine with her Saturday Night Live hosting debut focusing mainly on her physical attractiveness.
According to SNL star Bowen Yang, the Euphoria actress was actually the one to suggest for the show to lean into the public's obsession with her assets when she appeared as the celebrity host of the late-night sketch show alongside musical guest Kacey Musgraves back in March.
Sydney Sweeney hosted 'Saturday Night Live' for the first time on March 2, 2024.
"She came in and was like, 'Please, everyone, make jokes about my b----," Yang — who first joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2018 — claimed during the Wednesday, September 25, episode of Dana Carvey and David Spade's "Fly on the Wall" podcast.
The Fire Island actor alleged: "She was practically begging everybody."
Bowen Yang said the actress 'practically begged' for jokes to center around her physical attractiveness.
Yang noted Sweeney's approach wasn't a bad thing, but instead a prime "example of a host who came in and understood how she was being consumed and perceived already."
During the Anyone But You actress' night hosting SNL, Sweeney starred alongside the 33-year-old comedian in their controversial Hooters sketch — which was one of the many parts of the March 2 episode to face backlash due to complaints about the entire broadcast being centered around the blonde beauty's looks.
While on 'SNL,' Sydney Sweeney joked her backup plan for acting was simply to 'show' her b----.
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In her opening monologue on SNL, Sweeney jokingly said her backup plan when it came to getting into acting consisted of two words: "Show b----."
Reflecting on her comedic lines during an interview with GQ later in March, Sweeney appeared to back Yang's recent claims, as she admitted the jokes made throughout the show were meant to make light of the constant comments she receives online.
Sydney Sweeney said her hosting gig was meant to make fun of 'the ridiculous things' people say about her online.
"There's so many people out there who are like, ‘Oh, she's famous because she showed her boobs," she told the news outlet. "You can try and fight it but they just fight back. Even if you stand up for yourself, people are going to attack you for standing up for yourself."
"There's not many opportunities that I get where I can be live, and it's not my words written by somebody else," the Immaculate actress declared elsewhere in the interview. "It’s making fun of all the ridiculous things that are out there, people just run with whatever they want."
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Among the criticism the show's staffers received was a viewer challenging them to "have Sydney tell jokes that aren’t just about her being hot, and speak to her other qualities as an actor and person."
Others thought Sweeney disapproved of the things she said during her live sketch performance, as one person penned: "I remember her saying how icky it was for her growing up with big b---- and being sexualized for it and yet people still continue to sexualize her like no tomorrow."
