Bowen Yang Says Aimee Lou Wood’s Reaction To ‘SNL’ Parody Is “Completely Valid” & That Comedians Can “Take Account” For Missteps​on April 20, 2025 at 2:00 am

While The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood and Saturday Night Live member Sarah Sherman have let bygones be bygones, MVP Bowen Yang weighed in on the snafu, admitting that parody can often surpass its human-based origins to its detriment.

When prompted by Extra, the comedian — who was promoting The Wedding Banquet — responded that Wood’s reaction was “completely valid” and that it is up to comedians to “take account” for their material.

In last week’s SNL episode featuring Jon Hamm and musical guest Lizzo, the team spoofed HBO’s buzzy Mike White series by turning it into a comedically sound political commentary called “The White POTUS.” Basically every character on Season 3 of the dramedy was replaced with a prominent official or political figure, except for Sherman’s Wood, who donned prosthetics that exaggerated the actress’ gap teeth. The Sex Education alumna took to social media shortly after the sketch aired, deeming it “mean” and “unfunny.” She later said she received “apologies” from the late-night show, adding that she took issue with being the sole person in the 5-minute sketch to be “punched down on,” maintaining that she is not “thin-skinned.”

“However she reacted to that sketch is completely valid,” the Wicked star said of the incident. “With parody, you kind of forget the sort of human, emotional cost that it sort of extols on someone.”

He continued, “Everyone at SNL is just a fan of the show, obviously a fan of her. We just think that she should be so proud of the work that she put into the season, it was just water cooler television again that we desperately have a craving for. So I feel like it’s this thing that we tend to forget sometimes and this is a reminder and it seems like she has spoken to people at the show about it and hopefully there’s room to sort of move on from it. But yeah, you need those reminders every now and then that parody can go too far sometimes and that we, as comedians, can take account for that instead of banging our foot and saying that we should be able to say whatever we want. That’s just culture, it’s not PC or woke culture, it’s just culture.”