The only thing worse than knowing in advance that an episode of Saturday Night Live might be a bit lackluster is putting tons of faith in a host only for them to miss the mark. Chris Rock did the honors last night and while some were entertained, it seems that his jokes about terrorism hit a little too close to home for some. Rock spoke of the irony of those who had trained to run the 26-mile Boston Marathon only to be told to run because there's a bomb. While Rock repeatedly expressed his love for NYC his comments connected to 9/11 were a bit too much for some.
Rock talked about the irony of having rebuilt the World Trade Center towers after 9/11 and he joked that the Freedom Tower should instead be called the "Never Going In There" tower because even naked Scarlett Johansson on a plate of ribs couldn't bring him through those doors. A few minutes after his monologue Rock circled back to the topic of terrorism in a skit that knocked off Shark Tank. In it he portrayed an ISIS terrorist pitching for a $400 million investment in destroying the west.
Rock's brand of funny has always included walking the line of appropriateness, often tip-toeing off on purpose, but did he go too far last night? While Prince's 8-minute performance is all that people are talking about this morning, they don't need negativity to go hand-in-hand with it and that's exactly what seems to be happening.
It seems like SNL keeps itself locked in to its Saturday night spot based on years of legendary comedy but eventually they are going to have to take a good, hard look at the show as it exists right now. If NBC decides to really do that do you think that SNL will get another season? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
