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White men are raging over ‘SNL’s’ white male rage skit

What does almost every Oscar-nominated movie have in common this year?

Photo of Rachel Kiley

Rachel Kiley

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Melissa Villaseñor completely skewered the Oscars on Saturday Night Live, taking aim at the fact that, as is so often the case, the Academy is honoring films about angry white dudes while ignoring basically everyone else.

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In a segment for “Weekend Update,” Villaseñor enthusiastically declares that she’s ready to win an Oscar for her original songs she wrote for all the nominated movies. Over elevator muzak, she shares her songs. The first one, for the controversial sympathetic take on Joker, basically just describes the plot of the movie before ending with an apt observation:

“But the thing that this movie is really about is white male rage, white male rage, white male rage!”

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It’s the set up for the real joke: Every single song Villaseñor sings about these Oscar-nominated movies follows the same tune and describes the films as being about white male rage. The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Jojo Rabbit, 1917, and even Toy Story 4 all get the musical treatment in the skit, though it’s not necessarily the films themselves she’s poking fun at, it’s the fact that there’s a common theme running through all of the movies nominated for awards this year. It’s something many have found particularly frustrating in a year where great films by and about women have been collectively snubbed, something she points out in a line about Little Women and writer/director Greta Gerwig.

The skit struck a chord with people online, and it wasn’t long before #WhiteMaleRage became a hot topic on Twitter. And in a twist that shocked literally no one, white males (#notallwhitemales) got pretty ragey over it.

“Bold move SNL, singing about ‘white male rage,’” TheQuartering tweeted. “I am sure that will bring back all the ratings you’ve been losing to people who are sick of that kind of bullshit.”

https://twitter.com/TheQuartering/status/1221316276091572227

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https://twitter.com/SeaPort64/status/1221441227117166594

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https://twitter.com/NotNormalBingle/status/1221320543292612609

https://twitter.com/bex0760/status/1221473776220553217

https://twitter.com/ASluzky/status/1221363596468289536

And some really took the whole thing as an attack on Joker rather than, again, just pointing out that white men getting angry seems to be the only theme predominately white male Academy voters want to get behind.

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https://twitter.com/LilithLovett/status/1221442853777235978

https://twitter.com/softbabysolo/status/1221305415167700994

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But despite all the dudes getting mad about a comedy show, most of the comments in the trending tag have been an acknowledgement of how timely and hilarious Villaseñor’s tunes are.

“My thanks to Melissa Villaseñor for the new ringtone,” tweeted Charlotte Clymer. “It’s an instant classic.”

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1221418712747692033

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And plenty found the backlash to be just as enjoyable as the skit itself.

“Nothing validates the #WhiteMaleRage hashtag more than a bunch of white dudes getting Mad Online that a Latina woman made fun of JOKER on a comedy show,” Rob Sheridan pointed out.

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https://twitter.com/QueerCurmudgeon/status/1221402767404740608

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So don’t bother tuning in for the Oscars this year, we already know exactly what’s going to win–it’s white male rage!

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The Daily Dot