If you can believe it, Aimee Lou Wood wasn’t a large fan of Saturday Night Live’s White Lotus–inspired sketch. On Sunday, the White Lotus breakout to
If you can believe it, Aimee Lou Wood wasn’t a large fan of Saturday Night Live’s White Lotus–inspired sketch. On Sunday, the White Lotus breakout took to social media to call out SNL for its “mean and unfunny” impression of her appearance in the sketch, which was called “The White Potus” and featured in the most recent episode: “The rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”
“The White Potus” aired during the Jon Hamm–hosted edition of SNL on Saturday, April 12. In the sketch, Donald Trump, family members like Melania and Donald Jr., and key Cabinet members like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are depicted as cast members from the most recent season of HBO’s White Lotus, with James Austin Johnson’s President Trump slotting in as Jason Isaacs’s financially flailing father, Timothy Ratliff. The only season three White Lotus character who wasn’t given a political avatar in “The White Potus” was Wood’s Chelsea, spoofed by Sarah Sherman, who wore immense prosthetic teeth meant to mimic Wood’s own.
Some enjoyed the sketch, but Wood was not one of them. “I did find it mean and unfunny…,” she posted on her Instagram story. “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago. Yes, take the piss for sure—that’s what the show is about—but there must be a cleverer, less cheap way?”
According to The New York Times, Wood also posted that she is not “thin-skinned” and has no issue being joked about when “it’s clever and in good spirits.” But when the comes at the expense of her personal appearance? “The joke was about fluoride,” she wrote, referencing Hamm’s impression of RFK. Jr. as Chelsea’s elder American paramour Rick, played on The White Lotus by Walton Goggins. “I have big gap teeth not bad teeth.”
Woods recently told GQ that the discourse surrounding her teeth has been a bit disappointing, “It makes me really happy that it’s symbolizing rebellion and freedom, but there’s a limit,” she said. “The whole conversation is just about my teeth, and it makes me a bit sad because I’m not getting to talk about my work. They think it’s nice because they’re not criticizing… I don’t know if it was a man would we be talking about it this much? It’s still going on about a woman’s appearance.”
Wood ended her Instagram statement by clarifying that she has no ill will against Sherman. “Not @sarahsquirm ‘s fault,” she wrote, tagging Sherman in her Instagram stories. “Not hating on her, hating on the concept.” According to Wood’s Instagram stories, Saturday Night Live sent “apologies” for the sketch and she’s received “thousands of messages” of support for Chelsea and her teeth. “On a positive note, everyone is agreeing with me about it so I’m glad I said something instead of going in on myself,” she wrote. While things didn’t go Chelsea’s way on The White Lotus, at least they seem to be going Wood’s way regarding “The White Potus.”
Vanity Fair has reached out to Wood for comment. A representative for Saturday Night Live did not respond to VF’s request for comment.
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