Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer agrees with “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Chevy Chase that the popular late-night variety TV show has lost its good humor.
“Growing up, I think for so many of us, ‘Saturday Night Live’ has been iconic with funny skits and being able to poke fun at folks,” Spicer said during a Sunday interview with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York.
“I think they’ve kind of crossed that line and become an agenda-based show now where they are clearly in the camp of not being funny as much as personally attacking the president and the folks around him in a very mean-spirited way,” he continued.
Spicer added White House officials do have to learn to laugh at themselves and acknowledged that one of the “SNL” skits lampooning him shortly after President Trump’s inauguration struck the right note. But that balance shifted over time, he said.
“They’ve lost funny and going straight after mean and attack because of their personal animus towards the president,” Spicer reiterated.
Spicer said there had been “overtures” about him appearing on the NBC program that he “rejected” because his interests were not “becoming part of the story.”
Chase, who starred on “SNL” in the 1970s, last week excoriated the show during a Washington Post interview, describing it as a platform for “the worst fucking humor in the world.”
“I’ll just say, maybe off the record, I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low,” Chase told the newspaper, referring to executive producer Lorne Michaels. “I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t fucking believe it.”
“SNL” returns for its 44th season on Sept. 29.
