SNL Parodies Black Snape Casting in Harry Potter Series

Saturday Night Live took aim at the controversy surrounding the casting of a Black actor as Professor Severus Snape in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter television series during its latest Weekend Update segment. Comedian Kam Patterson portrayed the character, highlighting racial undertones in the original story through a series of satirical jokes, in an episode that aired this weekend following the release of the series' first trailer.

In the sketch, host Colin Jost introduced Patterson as Snape, who began with a faux British accent before dropping it. "Nah, I'm playing. I don't talk like that, bro. It's called codeswitching. Codio switchio!" Patterson said, drawing laughs from the audience. When Jost asked about his year at Hogwarts, the character replied, "Not great. We got this new kid. His name is Harry Potter, and he's racist as hell." Patterson continued, "Harry Potter, or the Proud Boy Who Lived, spent the whole year telling everybody that the school's only Black teacher was secretly evil."

The bit referenced key plot points from J.K. Rowling's first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Jost defended the young wizard, noting his concern over the theft of the stone....