Tone-deaf ‘SNL’ opener proves how little cultural capital the show has now

nypost.com:

tackled the sensational congressional hearings of December 5, when New York’s Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik grilled the presidents of MIT, Harvard and UPenn — who all refused to condemn students calling for the genocide of Jews on their campuses.

A worthy topic, but a disastrous, embarrassing rendering: “SNL” came out swinging — on the side of antisemitism.The sketch’s target wasn’t the university presidents, who failed so spectacularlyat the Capitol Building that Liz Magill of UPenn has already quit and critics are clamoring for Harvard’s Claudine Gay and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth to tender their own resignations.Instead, “SNL” writers turned their poison pens on Stefanik, who actually trounced the three in a public beating like we haven’t seen since Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed onscreen back in ’85.

Chloe Troast played Stefanik as a vain, shrieking attention whore hellbent on scoring political points, while the academics — painted as too smart for the little people — outfoxed her with their rhetorical prowess and stonewalling. “I’m going to start screaming questions at these women like I’m Billy Eichner,” Troast hollered, in case you didn’t get the message: Republicans are dumb, y’all.Worst of all, it was comically unfunny, doling out only second-hand embarrassment for those brave enough to sit through the entire thing.

Not one yuk to be had, the sketch limping along like a sick old dog that needs to be put down. And maybe the same can be said for “SNL,” a once beloved cultural institution.