Michael Che Deadnamed Caitlyn Jenner on "SNL," and Twitter Wasn't Having It

Last night was the Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live with Chance the Rapper pulling double duty as host and musical guest, but one of the show’s most memorable moments came not from the Chicago rapper (who also showed his support for the public school teachers striking in his hometown) but instead from an absolutely cringe-inducing Caitlyn Jenner joke by Michael Che on “Weekend Update.”

Che set up the joke by mentioning Kanye West and his new gospel album, Jesus Is King, saying “At first I thought Kanye was losing his mind, and now I feel like he’s fine, he’s just turning into an old white lady. I mean, he used to be one of the coolest black dudes on Earth. Now he’s showing up to events in sweatpants and orthopedic sneakers, listening to Kenny G and trying to get black people to like Trump. It’s like, how long before this guy changes his name to Kathy?”

The comedian then put up a picture of a pre-transition Jenner and deadnamed her, saying, “Now, you might think that I’m crazy, but about five years ago, there was a fella named Bruce Jenner, and he moved to Calabasas…” before being met with groans and uneasy laughter and trailing off. One woman in the crowd could be heard saying “No” after the joke. Fans on Twitter were equally displeased, calling out Che’s remarks as transphobic.

.@nbcsnl Michael Che’s transphobic and misogynist BS has to go. It’s awful and totally not funny. He obviously has nothing left in the tank.

— Amy Johnson (@Rioja95) October 27, 2019

michael che just deadnamed and misgendered caitlyn jenner on air for a joke. the joke? implying kanye west is trans. fuckin hell mate

— spuds (@fungaliens) October 27, 2019

After Che’s joke bombed, Colin Jost laughed and put his face in his hand, saying, “That pretty much ended.” You can watch the whole thing play out in the clip below.

Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.

Meet your guide

Bonnie Stiernberg

Bonnie Stiernberg is InsideHook’s Managing Editor. She was Music Editor at Paste Magazine for seven years, and she has written about music and pop culture for Rolling Stone, Glamour, Billboard, Vice and more.