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By Kerrie O'Brien
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Never have teeth created such a storm. When Saturday Night Live aired its White POTUS sketch last week, it might have expected to draw the ire of a few people in Washington. Not so.
Instead, The White Lotus breakout star Aimee Lou Wood condemned it in an Instagram post for being “mean and unfunny” in its portrayal of her and its targeting of that famous smile.
In a more recent Instagram post, Wood said SNL has since apologised to her, but then co-star Walton Goggins, who was also depicted, entered the fray, describing the skit as “amazing” in a now-deleted post on the SNL Instagram page.
Fans of The White Lotus are having a meltdown, saying it confirms there is a feud between the two actors following speculation the pair had unfollowed each other on social media.
Wood posted that she wished SNL had taken a “cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap” approach to the portion of the parody that featured her character.
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The Sex Education and Daddy Issues star wrote, “I don’t mind caricature – I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”
In the third series of The White Lotus, Wood plays Chelsea, a Mancunian yoga teacher with an increasingly testy older boyfriend, Rick, played by Goggins.
The skit featured comedian Sarah Sherman sporting oversized prosthetic teeth to mimic the British actor. It also included Jon Hamm as delusional US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, having “crazy ideas” including wondering about taking all the fluoride out of drinking water. “Fluoride? What’s that?” Sherman responds in a strange English accent.
Wood made the point that she has “big gap teeth”, not bad teeth, as the fluoride idea suggests. Continuing, she said: “Actually one last thing. Not Sarah Sherman’s fault. Not hating on her, hating on the concept.”
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Fellow Brits Cara Delevingne and Jameela Jamil expressed support for Wood and dismay at her portrayal. “I hate this so much. It’s the least interesting or memorable thing about this brilliant actor. Our next Olivia Coleman. Hilarious, deep, vulnerable and relentlessly loveable,” Jamil wrote on Instagram.
“We make fun of the assimilation of women and then mercilessly obsess over anyone with any slightly alternative features from whatever bullshit AI standard we have allowed, as women, to take hold of this world.”
In another post, Jamil added: “I also think she’s so f---ing beautiful and love her face so much and wouldn’t want her to look any different.”
Sharing Wood’s story, actor and model Delevingne wrote: “@aimeelouwood YOU ARE STUNNING. PERIOD.”
The sketch stars James Austin Johnson as a depressed Donald Trump, Chloe Fineman as Melania, Mikey Day as Don Jr. and Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka. Beck Bennett and Alex Moffat play Vladimir Putin and Eric Trump, respectively, and Lizzo portrayed Natasha Rothwell’s White Lotus character Belinda. Sherman is the only non-political character.
NBC’s long-running Saturday Night Live is renowned for impersonations – not always favourably. Britney Spears was less than impressed with Ariana Grande’s 2016 take on her voice, saying “That’s funny. That’s really funny, wow,” during an interview on London’s KISS FM UK. “I’ve heard better.”
Portrayed by Jon Rudnitsky on Saturday Night Live in 2015, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was disappointed. “I’m not easily offended, but I didn’t think it was particularly good,” he said while on Watch What Happens Live. “I’m all for being spoofed. I did think it was a little odd. It was like the only thing he knew about me was that I’m gay, so that’s sort of what we went with.”
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Wood has spoken publicly about struggling with dysmorphia. She told GQ this year that she heard how much The White Lotus creator Mike White fought to have her on the show. “It was honestly from the nicest place, but my little head goes: ‘HBO didn’t want me, it’s because I’m ugly.’ Mike had to say, ‘Please let me have the ugly girl!’” Wood said. “That was the thing that was in my head.”
While her teeth have captured people’s imaginations – viral TikToks even show DIY filing to create them but experts warn against doing so – the actor says men don’t face the same scrutiny.
Speaking in February, Wood said: “All I ever do is take the piss out of myself. Even the way [The White Lotus] fans are talking about me and my teeth – that I don’t have veneers or Botox – it feels a bit rebellious.
“I spent a lot of my life worrying about being weird, and now I’m realising it could be my superpower.”
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