Some celebrities love being impersonated on Saturday Evening Stay. Hillary Clinton mentioned the “wonderful” Kate McKinnon does Hillary Clinton higher than Hillary Clinton does Hillary Clinton. Equally, Bernie Sanders wished to make use of Larry David at his political rallies, saying David “does higher” than Sander does.
The celebs beneath, nonetheless, didn’t discover their SNL impressions humorous. From Barbara Walters taking offense to Gilda Radner’s impersonation to Aimee Lou Woods’ frustration with a current White Lotus spoof, listed here are stars who spoke out in opposition to the present.
Barbara Walters
Gilda Radner amped up Barbara Walters’ Boston accent throughout her many appearances as the tv journalist on SNL. And the real-life “Baba Wawa” wasn’t a fan — at first, anyway.
Cindy Ord/Getty Photographs
“I hated the Gilda Radner ‘Baba Wawa’ till I walked into my daughter’s room one night time, and he or she was up watching it,” Walters mentioned in a 2000 Tv Academy Basis interview. “It was a Saturday night time. I mentioned, ‘What are you doing up?’ and he or she mentioned, ‘I’m watching Baba Wawa, mama.’ And I mentioned, ‘Effectively, look what she’s doing,’ And my daughter mentioned, ‘Oh, Mommy, loosen up.’ After which I did.”
Sarah Palin
Within the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Tina Fey portrayed Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on SNL, resulting in the now-immortal line, “I can see Russia from my home!” Finally, the true Palin confirmed up at Studio 8H to look alongside her SNL alter-ego.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs
“I do know that they portrayed me as an fool, and I hated that, and I wished to return on the present and counter a few of that,” Palin advised The Hollywood Reporter in 2014. “If I bumped into Tina Fey once more right this moment, I might say: ‘It is advisable a minimum of pay for my youngsters’ braces or one thing from all the cash that you just made off of pretending that you just’re me! My goodness, you capitalized on that! Can’t you contribute a bit of bit? Jeez!’”
Mark Wahlberg
In the identical sketch the place the true Palin confirmed up, the true Mark Wahlberg additionally made a cameo to complain to Lorne Michaels in regards to the sketch with Andy Samberg enjoying him speaking to animals. The actor had additionally complained in regards to the impression to the press.
Amy Sussman/Getty Photographs
“Somebody confirmed it to me on YouTube. It wasn’t like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, that’s for certain,” Wahlberg advised the New York Submit. “And Saturday Evening Stay hasn’t been humorous for a very long time. They’ve requested me to do the present a ton of occasions. I used to look at it when Eddie Murphy was there and Joe Piscopo and Invoice Murray. I don’t even know who’s on the present now.”
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford squawked in 2009 after Kristen Wiig imitated her singing her tune “Everybody Has a Story” throughout one in every of Wiig’s many appearances because the speak present host on SNL. (See an identical sketch beneath.)
Terry Wyatt/Getty Photographs
“Can’t she get one other job and go off and do one thing else?” Gifford mentioned on As we speak on the time. “Everybody appears to get pleasure from it. I, personally, I don’t assume it’s that humorous. … I feel I’m going to sue her for ruining my tune!”
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper decried the “queened-up” impression of him that Jon Rudnitsky displayed in a 2015 SNL sketch riffing on a Democratic debate throughout the then-ongoing presidential race.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Photographs for Tribeca Pageant
“I didn’t assume it was excellent,” the CNN host mentioned on Watch What Occurs Stay, per Leisure Weekly. “Seth Meyers did a spoof of me years in the past that was actually humorous, and I’m all for being spoofed. It was like the one factor [Rudnitsky] knew about me was that I used to be homosexual, in order that’s kind of what he went with. I bought a bit of Truman Capote vibe, which I assumed was odd.”
Meghan McCain
Aidy Bryant performed Meghan McCain, the “princess of Arizona,” in a sequence of parodies of The View on SNL between 2018 and 2019. However the tv character mentioned the impressions did a quantity on her psychological well being.
Lou Rocco/ABC
“Folks actually cherished it when SNL dunked on me, and it was not flattering or type. And, by the best way, they have been fairly good to the remainder of the [View] solid, simply not nice to me,” McCain mentioned in a 2021 Rolling Stone interview. “I really feel like I’ve a fairly wholesome humorousness. However I feel if folks knew what it has completed to me mentally, emotionally, the toll it’s taken on me, the despair that has adopted … simply the darkish spirals. I felt like for some time that I used to be simply the laughingstock of the nation.”
Carole Baskin
In a 2020 sketch, SNL star Chloe Fineman performed a rapping Carole Baskin in a MasterClass parody, however the impersonation didn’t have the real-life Huge Cat Rescue CEO purring.
Netflix
“I may simply slap that girl!” Baskin mentioned of Fineman on the podcast The Pet Present that yr. “This complete, like, ‘My kitty, meow, meow, kitty, meow,’ and he or she would simply say all these actually bizarre phrases all in a row. And in order that grew to become actually common, I suppose, in common tradition and other people wished me to speak like that on the [Cameo app]. And I’m like, ‘I do not know speak like that. That’s not how I converse.’”
Donald Trump
James Austin Johnson has performed Donald Trump on SNL numerous occasions now… not that he has Trump’s presidential seal of approval.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs
“A nasty present that’s not humorous or good,” Trump wrote on Fact Social in 2022, after Johnson portrayed him answering a cellphone name on the bathroom. “[Lorne Michaels] is offended and exhausted, the present much more so. It was as soon as good, by no means nice, however now, just like the Late Evening Losers who’ve misplaced their viewers however do not know why, it’s over for SNL — a fantastic factor for America!”
Aimee Lou Wooden
Sarah Sherman — and a set of prosthetic enamel — performed Aimee Lou Wooden in a 2025 sketch riffing on The White Lotus and Donald Trump’s administration.
HBO
Following that episode, Wooden mentioned on Instagram she discovered the sketch “imply and unfunny” — and he or she particularly known as out the present for implying she had dangerous enamel as an alternative of simply massive enamel.
“Sure, take the p*** for certain — that’s what the present is about — however there have to be a cleverer, extra nuanced, much less low cost means?” she wrote. “I don’t thoughts caricature … [but] the remainder of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the one one punched down on.”
Saturday Evening Stay, Saturdays, 11:30/10:30c, NBC
