Dunking on presidential kids is fine — long as they’re adults. People can rag on Don Jr., Ivanka, and, sure, even Hunter Biden as much as they like. Someone like the teenaged Barron, however, is off-limits. (Although that hasn’t stopped his own father from using him to rail on Democrats.) Thirty years ago, SNL found out what happens when they don’t obey this rule.
On the Jan. 16, 1993 episode hosted by Harvey Keitel, musical guest Madonna played herself in a cold open sketch. It featured her serenading then-president Bill Clinton (Phil Hartman) for his birthday à la Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy, all while Hillary (Jan Hooks) glowers. Sitting next to them is their 12-year-old daughter Chelsea, played by Julia Sweeney. At the end, Madonna signals that it’s not the president she wants but Chelsea. (The sketch is not one that SNL allows on YouTube.)
The sketch got big laughs from the studio audience, but not everyone was amused. On a recent episode of Fly on the Wall, the podcast hosted by SNL alums Dana Carvey and David Spade, Sweeney revealed that Hillary “wrote a letter” to the show’s honcho Lorne Michaels, expressing her displeasure with how her young daughter was portrayed.
“People were saying how unattractively I was playing Chelsea and all I did was not wear makeup and put braces on,” Sweeney recalled. “If you say that, you’re saying I’m unattractive!” Sweeney swore she “wasn’t trying to play her unattractive,” adding that she “just didn’t wear makeup and put on braces.” She also had a wig.
Still, Sweeney wound up taking Chelsea’s mom’s side. “I understood what Hillary was saying, especially now that I’m a parent. It’s like, yeah f*ck off,” she said. “I mean, don’t play kids. That was wrong. She was right, that was wrong.”
Believe it or not, it wasn’t the last time SNL sent up Chelsea Clinton. In a Wayne’s World sketch, Wayne and Garth (Mike Myers and Carvey) joked that suggested Chelsea wasn’t as attractive as Al Gore’s daughters. Not only did Michaels issue an apology but so did Myers himself.
But again, it’s fine to drag middle-aged Trump son Don Jr. for, say, straight-up telling people to stop buying MAGA merch from people who aren’t him.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)