'Saturday Night Live' Adds First African-American Female in Five Years
NBC's Saturday Night Live has added an African-American woman castmember: Sasheer Zamata.
The Upright Citizens Brigade alum has boarded the Lorne Michaels-produced late-night sketch series and will make her debut Jan. 18, when Drake hosts.
The casting comes after showcases featuring black female comedians were held in New York and Los Angeles after the long-running sketch series faced widespread criticism that the new cast of SNL lacked minority faces and specifically the inclusion of an African-American woman.
STORY: 'SNL' to Add African-American Woman to Cast by January
The auditions were the first in the history of SNL to focus exclusively on minority women and were a proactive response on the part of producers to rectify season 39's diversity problem. SNL skewered itself in a sketch in which host Kerry Washington was run ragged playing everyone from first lady Michelle Obama to Oprah Winfrey to Beyonce.
Zamata is a University of Virginia alum and becomes the first black female SNL castmember in five years -- since the departure of Maya Rudolph. The comedian was one of two finalists -- Amber Ruffin was the other -- in contention for the new castmember spot.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/saturday-night-live-adds-sasheer-668659
She's a UVA grad so I love her already...
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The show was so lauded for its "diversity" but you didn't even have to look hard to see it was barely meeting the minimum.
One black girl, one gay (white) guy, one Latina, one Jewish girl, one Asian girl and one Asian guy. Like you noted, only ONE of everything and somehow that was enough to get everyone gushing. They had the same number of blonde white women -- not just white women in total, white women with the SAME HAIR COLOR -- than they had of all the minorities put together. The two blonde cheerleaders, the annoying teacher's dishonest wife and her sister, Sue Sylvester, the sleazy drunk lady that sang too loud. But I guess we should have all been glad that they let TWO Asians up in there at the same time.
To be honest, I hated Glee from the first time I saw that show. I would find myself watching it and unconsciously doing the 
face the entire time. I had to stop watching after the first five episodes of the first series. My stomach literally could not take it.
You minorities are never satisfied! Don't they get points for letting you all fight for those diversity slots? After all they didn't HAVE TO set those diversity slots aside!
" They had the same number of blonde white women -- not just white women in total, white women with the SAME HAIR COLOR -- than they had of all the minorities put together."
