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Saturday Night Live has poked fun at the new Harry Potter reboot’s casting choices.
Days after HBO released the trailer for the forthcoming series adapted from J.K. Rowling’s beloved books, comedian Kam Patterson appeared Saturday on “Weekend Update” as Professor Severus Snape — a character previously played by the late white actor Alan Rickman, but now being portrayed by Black actor Paapa Essiedu.
After “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost introduced Snape, Patterson joked that the franchise’s titular character was “racist as hell.”
“We got this new kid. His name is Harry Potter, and he’s racist as hell,” Snape said. “Harry Potter — or, the Proud Boy Who Lived — spent the whole year telling everybody that the school’s only Black teacher was secretly evil.”
Jost replied, referring to the plot of the first book in the series: “I think he’s just worried because he knows someone’s trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
Kam Patterson played Professor Snape on a Weekend Update segment on ‘Saturday Night Live’ (NBC)
Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape in ‘Harry Potter’ (HBO)
Snape responded, “So somebody stole something, and the number one suspect is Black Snape?”
As the audience laughed, Snape joked that he was used to other characters jumping to conclusions with racist undertones.
“It happens all the time,” he said. “I showed up at Hogwarts, and on the first day they looked at me and said, ‘You’re the professor of the Dark Arts.’ I never even studied that! I majored in African Muggle Studies.”
“The whole wizarding world is racist,” Snape continued before joking about how Rowling’s books included a Black character named Kingsley Shacklebolt, which he said was “a name I’m guessing they got out of the Wu-Tang name generator.”
“Everyone’s in these dignified robes. They dressed him up like he was selling cocoa butter incense out of a barbershop,” he said about the character’s portrayal in the original movies.
Jost joked, “Well, for the very first time, I’m starting to think J.K. Rowling might be problematic.”
Snape went on to say, “The whole wizarding world is messed up. We have magic, we have wands that can do anything, and people in my world still have slaves,” referring to the house elves in the series.
Patterson’s appearance concluded with Snape’s message to Harry Potter, referencing another plotline: “Your mama was thick as hell, dog. I miss her so much.”
Paapa Essiedu (left) is playing Professor Snape, who was previously played by Alan Rickman (right) (Getty Images / Warner Bros Pictures)
Essiedu’s casting has raised eyebrows, especially after the release of the first trailer, partly due to Snape being a figure that Harry mistrusts due to his own assumptions. However, the casting also sparked a wave of racist backlash against the actor over the fact that Snape was written as white.
Essiedu, 35, recently revealed that he has received online abuse that even led to death threats over his casting.
“I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you,’” Essiedu told The Times. “The reality is that if I look at Instagram I will see somebody saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.”
He said, “Many people put their lives on the line in their work. I’m playing a wizard in Harry Potter. And I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me emotionally.”