Saturday Night Live cops criticism for sketch about Britney Spears’ memoir

Saturday Night Live is copping backlash after poking fun at Britney Spears' new memoir.

In the latest episode of the sketch comedy series hosted by Timothée Chalamet, comedian Chloe Fineman dressed up as Britney and joked Michelle Williams wasn't the only one who auditioned to narrate her audiobook.

“I’m beyond touched that my book The Woman in Me hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, to say the least,” Fineman said as she pretended to be the pop star.

SNL make parody skit about Britney Spears’ memoir.

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— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 12, 2023

“My audiobook is read by the amazing Michelle Williams, but she wasn’t the only one who wanted to read it.

"Here’s a peek at some of the other actors who auditioned to read The Woman in Me.”

A montage then played other notorious actors reading excerpts from the pop star's book, including Ice Spice (played by Punkie Johnson), The B-52s‘ Fred Schneider (Bowen Yang), Martin Scorsese (Chalamet), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Kenan Thompson), Steve-O (Mikey Day) and Natasha Lyonne (Fineman).

While the audience seemed amused by the cast's near-perfect impressions, many slammed the show for its insensitive take.

One person wrote: "Yeah no, like I’m sure their intentions are in the right place but this is no SNL joking matter."

Another said: "There are things you shouldn’t parody…one of them being another person’s trauma."

A third commented: "Their humor is stuck in 2009."

While another said: "Why does everything about Britney and her life have to be a joke for the media? We are tired of this."

The Woman in Me, released last month, details Britney's life in the limelight, her upbringing, her tumultuous relationships and her long-lasting conservatorship at the hands of her father.

Within a week of its release in the US, the memoir became a New York Times best-seller, with 1.1 million copies sold in all formats.

As of November, it sold an estimated 2.4 million in print around the world.