Bowen Yang Says Aimee Lou Wood’s Criticism of ‘White Lotus’ Parody on ‘SNL’ Is “Completely Valid”

Carly Thomas

Mon, April 21, 2025 at 12:56 AM UTC

2 min read

Bowen Yang supports Aimee Lou Wood after she criticized a White Lotus parody on Saturday Night Live for not switching her character in the sketch.
Wood called the SNL skit “mean and unfunny” and criticized Sarah Sherman for “punching down” at her character and British accent, but later received apologies from SNL and flowers from Sherman.
Yang emphasized the importance of remembering the emotional impact of parody and the need to be mindful of boundaries in comedy, stating that it's a cultural issue rather than just about being politically correct.

Bowen Yang has Aimee Lou Wood's back following her criticism of a White Lotus parody on the latest Saturday Night Live episode.

During the late-night sketch show, which featured Jon Hamm as host that week, SNL spoofed the season three finale of Mike White's hit show but with a Donald Trump twist. The sketch swapped characters from the show with the president, his family and members of his cabinet. However, Wood's White Lotus character Chelsea, portrayed by Sarah Sherman, wasn't switched, and saw Sherman wear a pair of fake teeth in the sketch.

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Wood previously called the skit "mean and unfunny" and called out Sherman for "punching down" at her character and her British accent, adding, "At least get the accent right, seriously. I respect accuracy, even if it's mean."

In a recent interview with Extra , Yang called Wood's reaction to the sketch "completely valid," adding, "You kind of forget the sort of human, emotional cost that it sort of extols on someone."

The SNL star 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."

"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," Yang added. "That's just culture, it's not PC or woke culture, it's just culture."

After Wood took to her Instagram Story to criticize the sketch, she later noted that she "had apologies from SNL ." She also said Sherman sent her flowers as an apology.

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