Why Some Bernie Sanders Fans Are Angry About Larry David's 'SNL' Debate
"Saturday Night Live" was more than pretty, pretty good, but several Bernie backers were angered by this past weekend's cold open debate sketch.
Larry's portrayal was a hit, even with Bernie himself, who quipped to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star at their next rally. "He does better than I do." However, the Democratic Debate sketch was accused of being too pro Hillary Clinton. The real Hillary was on SNL earlier this season, and the SNL debate -- which included Alec Baldwin as Jim Webb -- was framed from the perspective of Hillary as the inevitable choice. The sketch even even had Kate McKinnon's Hillary end her closing statement with the "sobering thought" that "If you get into bed with Bernie Sanders tonight, you're going to wake up with Donald Trump tomorrow." Larry David's Sanders complained about podiums, then closed with, "Come next November, I will be ... Hillary Clinton's vice president!"
Here's the sketch, see what you think:
Some Bernie fans got prickly about the portrayal, arguing that Bernie was mocked more than Hillary and SNL was being too pro Clinton. Many complained about that "vice president" line and then things spiraled into a heated debate, as they tend to on the Internet.
The SNL sketch has nearly 3 million views on YouTube -- with more than 10,000 thumbs up, and just over 1,000 thumbs down. Here are a few of the more than 2,300 comments, both attacking and defending the Bernie portrayal:
• Larry David's portrayal of Bernie Sanders was horribly inaccurate. SNL should be ashamed of its attempt to smear the best candidate.
• Maybe a few jokes about how Hillary is owned by the banks, or how her version of regulating the banks was to ''ask them to please stop robbing the people blind'', maybe how she flipped on all major issues, maybe a joke or two about how Bernie won all focus groups and online polling but still media claims Hillary won based on nothing.... Your trying to tell people here that Bernie can't beat Trump, that he will be Hillarys VP on a comedy show, SNL go F yourself you corrupted losers..
• Yeah, but I still don't get the blatant pro-Hillary endorsement of SNL. Why does a comedy show push that capitalist offspring Hillary and not Sanders who seems to be the best vote for females, gays, minorities, middle-class, and many more, except the rich 1%?! @SNL: I'm really disappointed of you. Promoting the wrong politician just for a few cheap laughs.
• I honestly didn't like the last part. Bernie has been making it extremely clear that he's not interested in being Hillary's vp, nor bring her more to the left and the majority of people do indeed know that. Bernie is the real deal, people. But still, this was extremely funny!
• If it were comedy they would not be picking sides would they... Since you know nothing about politics you failed to see how pro Hillary this ''sketch'' was..
• Why did they not poke fun at Hillary on real issues, like her changing her mind once a week, how she used to be anti gay now is their best friend, or how her campaign is payed for by bankers, or how her version of regulating banks was to tell them ''Please stop robbing the people blind'' in 2007, or her voting record for example the Iraq war, her whole political life is a joke and they did not use any of it..
• You hit it exactly. I'm not "butthurt" by this, just incredulous. Funny is funny but there was an obvious slant here, like an apology for poking fun at the anointed Clinton. The end was like them saying, "just kidding, Hil, you know we're on your side". SNL is as scared and whimpering as the trolls and Trumpsters here who believe the bullshit that Bernie's common-sense and modern proposals are going to put us all in a gulag.
• Well i watched SNL for a long time, what the mainstream media is doing to Bernie on the news is horrible, i did not expect to see this on SNL as well, if people say nothing it will just keep going. It was a clear endorsement of Hillary over Bernie specially if you follow media and their twist on the debate, you see SNL doing the same thing..
• SNL has been lampooning Presidential candidates since the '70s. If you think this was a smear-job, then how do you expect him to govern? Clinton and Bush both won two terms while being mocked far more savagely.
• I'm all for Bernie, but why does his greatest fans seems to be so sensitive? You should be able to joke about him as much as anyone else.
"Butthurt" is one of the best words the Internet has ever given us, but it may be too juvenile to describe a serious political debate. Then again, this wasn't meant to be a serious political debate, it was a comedy sketch where Hillary was mocked for basically being a programmed robot, Webb kept complaining about lack of time then had nothing to say, Bernie was given "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" mannerisms, and O'Malley (Taran Killam) and Chafee (Kyle Mooney) were brushed aside as non-events. If anyone should be mad, it's Chafee and O'Malley backers ... if there are any ... but maybe Bernie backers are worried that the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin effect might take over and slant viewers' perceptions.
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