Topics: Donald Trump, Entertainment, Film and TV, Politics, Saturday Night Live, Tom Hanks, US News, Social Media
Tom Hanks has spoken out about offensive SNL skits ironically just before airing one of his own that outraged Republicans.
The 68-year-old veteran actor ruffled some feathers amid Saturday Night Live's 50th birthday bash weekend.
On Sunday (February 16), Hollywood's famous faces flocked to New York to celebrate the show's mega milestone, from Meryl Streep and Martin Short to Jack Nicholson and Aubrey Plaza.
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But Hanks delivered one skit that caused a bit of a drama among Donald Trump supporters as he appeared to portray a Republican voter as a 'racist redneck'.
However, the Cast Away legend defended the sketch - and some of SNL's other historic tongue-in-cheek moments - in his opening monologue.
The show, which has stood the test of time in American comedy, having first graced our screens in 1975, has been renowned for testing the limits, pushing the boundaries of comedy and hitting some cultural sensitivities in the process.
The Forest Gump star kicked off his monologue with what seemed like an 'In Memoriam' tribute to 'honor' the 'countless members of the SNL family that were taken from us too soon'.
Yet, in true Hanks fashion, the speech took a comedic turn when he said he was talking 'about SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly'.
Instead of digging at some of the gags that would be considered outdated or downright offensive to the modern audience, Hanks said: "Even though these characters, accents, and… let’s just call them ‘ethnic’ wigs were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them.
"So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience?"
Some controversial SNL moments ranged from sketches like 'ethnic stereotypes', 'sexual harassment', and 'gay panic' as well as rolling out the red carpet to some controversial guests, like R.Kelly, Diddy, and O.J. Simpson.
These moments certainly aged terribly, and it's ironic Hanks highlighted these blunders before launching into his own contentious and perhaps insensitive skit.
The Californian Golden Globes winner sported a red 'MAGA' (Make America Great Again) cap as he performed as a religious 'redneck' man called Doug on a parody game show called Black Jeopardy.
During the skit, Kenan Thompson, the host of the parody show, tried to shake Doug's hand, but he initially refused.
Doug did eventually perform the greeting gesture, before saying: "Don’t like that, whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe I’ll start a show for you to come on and we’ll call it White Jeopardy."
However, some viewers weren't impressed with the gag, with dozens taking to Twitter to write that Hanks' performance poked fun at Trump supporters by 'portraying them as dumb, racist, rednecks'.
Link Lauren, a former advisor to Robert F. Kennedy Jr, also wrote on social media: "Tom Hanks just came out on SNL in a MAGA hat for a bit where he acted like he didn’t want to shake a black man’s hand.
"This show wonders why their ratings are in the gutter," he added.
Others, however, have praised his performance, saying it was 'spot on' and that he 'deserves every award'.
Another wrote: "I feel like some people are maybe just now discovering the Tom Hanks Black Jeopardy SNL skit lol this is not new to 2025. And it was funny. Lighten up."
