Whoopi Goldberg Decries Lack of Black Women on 'SNL'

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 (UPI) — U.S. actress Whoopi Goldberg said she was troubled by a seeming lack of diversity among the cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Goldberg put the topic on the table this week during “The View,” when she proposed the presence of black women in the “SNL” cast has been lacking for several years.

“Saturday Night Live’ has looked like this for 15, 16 years,” she later told Showbiz411. “I don’t understand. Why is everyone up in arms? Didn’t anybody see it before?”

The Los Angeles Times said Saturday “SNL” currently includes two black men, Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah, who have been enlisted to dress up in drag to play female black roles.

Thompson has recently said he no longer wants to pull that duty.

The Times said the last splash of female color was Maya Rudolph, who is of mixed race and left “SNL” in 2007.