Many Americans were aghast Saturday night when they tuned into Saturday Night Live and watched a skit making light of domestic violence.
In the skit, Keenan Thomson and Blake Lively, playing Tiger Woods and his wife Elin, participated in a mock CNN interview about the bizarre circumstances surrounding Woods’ car accident last weekend and the string of extramarital affairs that have surfaced since then. A victimized Woods receives multiple beatings at the hands of his wife, and ultimately begs for help via notes written on the back of a script his wife has written for the interview.
It is a rare instance, minus Justin Timberlake with his package in a package, that I actually am amused by SNL. I am ashamed to admit that upon the first viewing, I laughed out loud at the outlandish skit and the sight of “Tiger” having a golf club wrapped around his head. However, upon further reflection, I was deeply disturbed, especially when the next skit starred none other than Rhianna, a victim of domestic violence herself. Not only did it seem wrong to be laughing at a situation involving a battered spouse, but it also felt like a huge double standard that we can make light of an allegedly violent incident if the victim is a man or “deserved” the beating based on his own infidelities. Had SNL aired a skit mocking the incident with Chris Brown and Rhianna, I assure you they would no longer be on the air.
Furthermore, Elin Woods has not been charged with any crime and other than some watercooler musings, there is no evidence that she assaulted her husband at all. Though SNL may have convicted and acquitted her in their skit, perhaps it is the show that has perpetrated an assault: against the sensibilities of their viewers and victims of domestic violence everywhere. Sometimes a laugh just isn’t worth it.
I thought this was a weird way to go… there had to have been a funnier skit to do, you know? Something more related to golf would have been funnier and less offensive, I think.
Thanks for writing this, Sarah! Domestic violence is NEVER funny, and people can tell me all they want that I need to “lighten up” and get a sense of a humor, but it’s just not cool.