When “Saturday Night Live” aired its “The White Lotus”-themed sendup of the Trump administration, the laughs rolled in.
The prerecorded, five-minute sketch, titled “The White POTUS,” had appearances from “SNL” host Jon Hamm, musical guest Lizzo, Scarlett Johansson (as Ivanka Trump) and former castmates Beck Bennett (as Vladimir Putin) and Alex Moffat (as Eric Trump), and mostly went over pretty well.
With one exception.
While most of the actors in the sketch (watch below) played members of the Trump family or government officials, cast member Sarah Sherman played a version of Chelsea, the fan-favorite character in “The White Lotus” played by English actor Aimee Lou Wood.
Wood has prominent gap teeth. She has said that she’s glad she hasn’t “fixed” them, since others with gaps have told her how her embrace of the feature encourages them to do the same.
When Sherman played Chelsea, she wore oversized fake front teeth with a gap and spoke with an English accent. In the sketch, she’s supposed to be the companion or girlfriend of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the department of health and human services.
Sarah Sherman as an Aimee Lou Wood-inspired character in the “White Lotus”-inspired sketch. NBC
In the bit, Kennedy, played by Jon Hamm, brings a syringe of active measles virus to a resort in Thailand. Echoing the actual RFK Jr., he also says he has an idea to take all fluoride out of water.
“What would that do to people’s teeth?” he says.
“Fluoride??” Sherman’s Chelsea replies, flashing wide eyes and the fake teeth. “What’s that?”
Then she spies something making a noise.
READ MORE: ‘The White POTUS’ sees ‘Saturday Night Live’ send up Trump admin with choice guest stars
“Oh look, a mun-keyy!” she happily sings.
“I’m gonna go kill it and eat it,” Hamm’s Kennedy says, taking out a knife.
“Nooo!” Chelsea says. “Not the mun-key!”
Aimee Lou Wood as Chelsea in “The White Lotus.”Fabio Lovino | HBO
Actor Walton Goggins, who plays Wood’s onscreen partner Rick Hatchett in “The White Lotus,” had a positive response to the sketch on Instagram.
“Hahahahahhahaha” he commented on the “SNL” video. “Amazzzingggg.”
But Wood was not amused.
She called the sketch “mean and unfunny” in her Instagram stories.
“(Felt righteous might delete later),” she added, sharing a photo of her unamused face.
Later, she checked in to report a good response to her “SNL” gripe.
“On a positive note, everyone is agreeing with me about it so I’m glad I said something instead of going in on myself,” Wood said. “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago. Yes, take the piss for sure – that’s what the show is about – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”
From there, Wood, 31, started sharing some replies to her original message.
“Don’t delete it,” one person told her. “It was mean and unfunny and saying it out loud removes their power … I have a big gap in my teeth and an overbite and you’ve genuinely made me feel so much better about myself. I was going to spend thousands on fixing it all which I’m just not doing now because I look at you and think how gorgeous you look so why not try and apply that logic to myself.”
READ MORE: ‘The White Lotus’ star just celebrated the season finale. Now she’s filming a movie in N.J.
“Everyone else in that parody was a political figure who was being mocked,” another said. “The only character who wasn’t political was Chelsea, and they were clearly just taking the piss out of your appearance/accent.”
The accent was another point that Wood talked about in her critique.
“At least get the accent right seriously,” she said. “I respect accuracy even if it’s mean.”
In the show, Chelsea is supposed to hail from Manchester, Wood’s neck of the woods, and does indeed have a Mancunian accent.
“Omg I’ve got THOUSANDS of messages in agreement with me since posting that,” Wood later shared of her “SNL” criticism. “Thanks guys. Glad I said something.”
Wood didn’t blame “SNL” cast member Sarah Sherman for the portrayal.Aimee Lou Wood via Instagram
Then came the icing on the cake:
“I’ve had apologies from SNL,” she said in another post showcasing a distorted image of her face that emphasized the eyes and mouth.
“Last thing I’ll say on the matter. I am not thin skinned. I actually love being taken the piss out of when it’s clever and in good spirits. 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.”
While Wood reaffirmed her criticism, she clarified that she was not laying the blame on Sherman, 32.
“Not @sarahsquirm’s fault … not hating on her, hating on the concept,” the actor said.
For her last-last thought on the subject, Wood shared a comment from another viewer:
“It was a sharp and funny skit until it suddenly took a screeching turn into 1970’s misogyny,” the person had said.
Wood:
“This sums up my view.”
Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter/X, @amykup.bsky.social on Bluesky and @kupamy on Instagram and Threads.
