Michael Che is constantly making headlines for the wrong reasons, and this time, it is because fans of Saturday Night Live want Che gone after making truly vile “jokes” about Simone Biles. The “Weekend Update” host took to his Instagram story to declare that he didn’t care what everyone was saying and he wanted to make fun of Olympic athlete Simone Biles after she withdrew from competition.
“Man, I wanna make fun of Simone Biles,” he posted on his Instagram story, mainly in reference to the internet’s discussion on leaving Simone Biles alone. “I got like 3 mins of Simone Biles jokes in my head. I’m going to the [Comedy Cellar] tonight to say them into a microphone. As the dorky kids say I’m choosing violence.”
Che shared some jokes in his story, one of which read as follows: “Larry Nasser (sic) understands Simone Biles better than anyone. He too had to quit doing what he loved at the pinnacle of his career because of mounting pressure.” Che called it tasteless and then gave it a 9/10 rating.
The Nassar joke is the one that everyone is talking about, as they should. Larry Nassar sexually assaulted hundreds of gymnasts while being the national medical coordinator for USA Gymnastics, one of which was Olympian Simone Biles. Che’s need to “make fun of her” is already a problem regardless of that fact, but the reasoning behind Biles’ dropping out of the Olympics came from Biles taking care of her mental health and wellbeing. So Che deciding that this was perfectly fine to make fun of her? Absolutely disgusting.
Che shared a good amount of these terrible jokes and then, when he saw the backlash, said that he was hacked and claimed he only joked about “whites and cops.” The thing is: This is Che’s style, and he does it over and over again. He punches down, he finds someone he feels like he can make fun of and no one will say anything, and then when people call him out, he lashes out—mainly because most of his “punching down” comes at the expense of women and trans individuals.
There was absolutely no reason for Che to make a comment on Simone Biles.
Yet again, Che trended on Twitter, and as per usual, you probably shouldn’t have even bothered to ask why people were talking about him.
Michael Che is trash. https://t.co/q4XQmcX4AV
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 30, 2021
Michael Che comes for people he thinks he can get away with dunking on. Trans women, Black women, sexual assault survivors. Judging by his flimsy “I got hacked” defense, it seems he had no idea how beloved Simone Biles is, or just how messed up it is to share a Larry Nasser joke.
— Delia Harrington (@DeliaMary) July 30, 2021
michael che? being a fucking loser? i am so shocked and appalled https://t.co/BOT4vZ0lGU
— hot girl midsommar (@verymimi) July 30, 2021
between michael che just *needing* to crack a rape joke and the activision/blizzard “cosby room”, rape culture is very alive and well.
— roslyn talusan (@roslyntalusan) July 30, 2021
Michael Che sharing that rape joke about Simon Biles reminds me of this:
Rape jokes are often used to “put a woman in her place”https://t.co/OZEM37pByM pic.twitter.com/Ainqts9nqC
— Wagatwe Wanjuki 🇰🇪 🇧🇸 (@wagatwe) July 30, 2021
How nice for Michael Che never to have been denied the sanctity of his own body because of his gender.
How nice for him not to be judged and gaslit repeatedly because it is routine to treat an entire gender and their experiences with disregard and contempt.
How lovely for him.
— A Shady Dame From Seville (@SorayaMcDonald) July 30, 2021
Larry Nassar sexually assaulted over 300 gymnasts including Simone Biles. Jokes about this immense violence are never okay. @hbomax @nbcsnl why is Michael Che still on your roster?
— Farrah Khan (@farrahsafiakhan) July 30, 2021
Imagine having a platform like Michael Che and sharing rape jokes…. honestly what a sick person and it’s disgusting for @nbcsnl to do nothing about it
— Kylie Cheung (@kylietcheung) July 30, 2021
I would say I hope that Che learns from this, but he won’t, if time has shown us anything. Hopefully HBO and NBC do learn something from this, though, and finally do something about Che’s incredibly harmful jokes.
(via Mediaite, image: Jennifer Graylock/Getty Images for Gilda’s Club NYC)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
