A comedian is calling out Saturday Night Live. Former SNL alum Beck Bennett says he dealt with a lot of comments about his weight while on the show.
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It wasn’t the schedule while working at Studio 8H that was so difficult, but the fact that people wouldn’t leave him alone about his weight.
In an interview on Vulture’s “Good One” podcast, Bennett recalled people pressuring him to slim down.
“I was told by many different people, in different ways — some sh–ty ways,” he told host Jesse David Fox. “I’m keeping it vague on purpose. Because there was definitely somebody, who I don’t think people would know, that handled it in ways that were upsetting and frustrating and hard. Which probably made my second year even harder.”
‘SNL’ Star Speaks Out
It’s worth noting that Bennett isn’t naming names or directing blame at iconic SNL producer Lorne Michaels or executives behind the show. The comedian believes the comments were meant to be helpful but ended up feeling hurtful.
“There was somebody who put it to me in a way that kind of made it click,” he recalled. “Again, I don’t want to say that person’s name because asking somebody to lose weight is, you know, controversial. But it was put to me in a way where I was like, ‘Oh, that kind of makes sense.’”
It’s like you want to be comfortable. You want to be confident,” Bennett continued. “If I’m there to play these certain parts, I want to be able to be that person. To look like that person. That’s kind of the reality of of our business. And it changes a lot. Like there are different body types playing different parts that they hadn’t been able to play in a while, which is great. But that’s kind of how it was put to me.”
The SNL comedian says that he lost weight after agreeing to join a short film How to Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps!. He said that he lost 30 pounds afterward. There’s no hard feelings between the comedian and SNL.
He later joined the 50th anniversary celebration.
“I wasn’t left out of anything, and I got to perform,” he said. “I got to be there at rehearsal on Friday and Saturday and got to hang out with everybody and see all the castmembers that I was there with. It was so nice and easy.”