Bowen Yang Supports Aimee Lou Wood After She Took Offense to SNL’s Parody of Her

Bowen Yang has publicly supported Aimee Lou Wood following her criticism of a Saturday Night Live sketch that parodied her character from The White Lotus.

The sketch, which aired on April 12, featured SNL cast member Sarah Sherman impersonating Wood’s character, Chelsea. Sherman wore exaggerated fake teeth and spoke in a British accent. Wood posted on her Instagram account and called the whole thing “mean and unfunny.” 

In an interview with Extra, Yang said of the problematic sketch, “However she reacted to that sketch is completely valid. You kind of forget the sort of human, emotional cost that it sort of extols on someone.” 

Yang, who first joined the show as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to on-air cast in 2019, emphasized that “parody can go too far sometimes” and that as a comedian, they need to “take account for that instead of banging our foot and saying that ‘we should be allowed to say whatever we want because that’s just the culture.’” 

The Wicked actor also admitted that the SNL cast are fans of The White Lotus and Wood: “We just think that she should be so proud of the work that she put into this season.” 

Yang is not the only cast member who acknowledged that SNL crossed the line with Wood’s impersonation. Sherman sent flowers to Wood after the incident, according to CNN. The English actress clarified that she’s not blaming Sherman and is “not hating on her, hating on the concept,” and that “there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way” to poke fun at the show. 

What Yang and Sherman did is more than Wood can expect from her co-star Walton Goggins, who played Rick, her character's love interest on the show. Goggins reportedly reposted the skit on his Instagram story with the caption, “SMASHING,” and “Jon… I knew I was miscast,” which he later deleted. This further fueled the rumor that the co-stars were feuding. 

The actors have not yet addressed the rumor about their supposed feud.