Featured Image Credit: SNL
Topics: Saturday Night Live, Stranger Things, Netflix
William Morgan
Fresh off the back of Stranger Things' blockbuster finale, Finn Wolfhard left a sour taste among some Saturday Night Live fans over one controversial joke.
Wolfhard hosted SNL for the first time last Saturday (January 17) and starred in comedy skits riffing on the Netflix show's rumored secret ninth episode 'Conformity Gate' and a steamy retelling of Harry Potter.
But it was a joke in the opening monologue that has led to furious backlash.
Wolfhard, 23, joked about life growing up while starring in one of the biggest shows on Earth, but a comparison he made to one of the more terrifying monsters on Stranger Things has left him facing accusations of sexism.
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Teeing up the joke, he began: "My voice changed on camera, my first kiss was on camera, and I can't actually believe I'm admitting this, but the first time I learned what a woman looks like down there - was on camera as well."
For its punchline, the broadcast then cut to a short clip of Wolfhard's on-screen character looking shocked as one of the show's main villains, the horrifying-looking Demogorgon, unfurls like a flower in front of him.
A number of outraged viewers quickly saw the joke as a common misogynist trope and shared their fury on X. One user said: "Sexist joke and like lazy?? At least try harder."
Another said: "I fail to see the humor, but I do see the ugly old misogyny here."
One user asked simply: "Why are men so disappointing?"
For most who found the joke offensive, it was an indictment on the SNL team. One commented added: "Just a really unfunny man on a really unfunny show with an awful script."
But that is not to say that everyone hated the joke, even if anger was the dominant mood among fans on social media. Some saw it as a harmless joke, with one user asking: "Why is everyone on the left and right clutching their pearls after this harmless crude joke?"
As Wolfhard's monologue drew to a close, he was joined by two of his former co-stars, Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo, who spoke about how strange it was to grow up with people making comments about them on Reddit.
Continuing a theme of youth reaching maturity, the trio joked about starring in 'adult films' now that the Netflix series is over, before launching into a series of sketches that included a Sex and the City remake for Wolfhard's Stranger Things character, titled 'Mike in Manhattan'.
Wolfhard also starred in a sketch which reimagined Harry Potter as a romance between Harry and Ron in the vein of hockey drama Heated Rivalry.
But the special show also included a major nod to the rumors of an unreleased ninth episode of Stranger Things' fifth series, with a sketch showing something that internet sleuths and conspiracy theorists could never have predicted - Kenan Thompson taking over as Eleven.
UNILAD has contacted Finn Wolfhard's representatives for comment.