White Lotus Star Aimee Lou Wood Calls SNL Parody ‘Unfunny’

Aimee Lou Wood, the breakout star of The White Lotus Season 3, didn’t hold back after Saturday Night Live (SNL) aired a parody of the hit HBO show. The actress took to Instagram to call out the sketch, saying it crossed the line from satire into cheap mockery, aka “mean and unfunny.”

What did Aimee Lou Wood say about SNL parody?

The SNL segment, titled “The White Potus,” turned the Trump family into The White Lotus-style vacationers, poking fun at political figures like Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) and Melania Trump (Chloe Fineman). But the only non-political character targeted was Wood’s White Lotus role, Chelsea, played by SNL’s Sarah Sherman with exaggerated fake teeth and a shaky British accent.

However, Aimee Lou Wood didn’t find it funny. “I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny,” she wrote on Instagram Stories. “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it (SNL) a couple weeks ago,” she added. While she acknowledged that satire is part of the show’s DNA, she questioned whether the joke was clever or just lazy. “Yes, take the piss—that’s what the show is about—but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?” (via Entertainment Weekly)

Many of Aimee Lou Wood’s followers agreed that the SNL sketch unfairly singled out her appearance rather than her character. One fan pointed out, “Everyone else in that parody was a political figure who was being mocked. The only character who wasn’t political was Chelsea, and they were clearly just taking the piss out of your appearance.” Wood agreed.

Others criticized Sherman’s attempt at a Manchester accent (Wood’s real-life dialect), calling it “terrible.” Wood agreed, adding, “At least get the accent right…I respect accuracy, even if it’s mean.” A few hours after her initial posts, Aimee Lou Wood revealed that SNL had reached out with an apology for the sketch.