Warning: This article contains descriptions of self-harm.
Saturday Night Live has undoubtedly aired a number of sketches that bordered on bad taste, including the time when Oscar winner Tom Hanks wrote a groovy song about not wanting anyone to mutilate his penis. Or the sketch in which Prince Charles transformed into a tamponAnd the less said about “Canteen Boy” the better.
Far more tasteless than these sketches, SNL In 1997, a major line was crossed in an episode hosted by Rob Lowe with the Spice Girls as musical guests.
Don’t miss
Usually an episode with the villain from Wayne’s World and the girl group that gave us “Wannabe” would be a decidedly lighthearted affair. But right from the start, the show treads controversial waters, with a cold open that focuses on the death cult Heaven’s Gate.
Only two weeks Before the episode aired, cult leader Marshall Applewhite and his 39 followers participated in a mass suicide ritual and drank “a deadly mixture of phenobarbital and vodka.” Why? Because he promised them that an “alien spaceship” would take them to the “Kingdom of Heaven” in the form of an alien planet. He called it “The Next Level.”
So SNL The show began with a sketch in which Ted Koppel (Darrell Hammond) speaks to Applewhite via satellite. It turns out that the cult leader, played by Will Ferrell, was absolutely right and he and all his followers lived happily on an alien ship. Although he admitted to having one regret: “the thing with the castration.”
Again, the Heaven’s Gate incident was undoubtedly a bitter tragedy. The premise may be darkly humorous in theory, but it is crazy that SNL decided to air a sketch showing recent suicide victims celebrating with an alien named “Zantar.” At one point, Koppell even tells Applewhite, “This whole suicide thing has turned out to be a real hit for you.”
While this sketch was questionable at best, it somehow wasn’t the show’s most horrific Heaven’s Gate-themed sketch.
After Lowe’s monologue, the audience was treated to a parody advertisement, but instead of a wacky fake product like “Oops! I Crapped My Pants” or “Colon Blow,” we were treated to footage of the real Marshall Applewhite and what appeared to be real photos of the bodies of the Heaven’s Gate victims, all of whom were famously wearing Nike sneakers at the time of their deaths.
The punchline? It’s an ad for Keds“Shoes that thoughtful Christians wear on their journey to their next life.”
NBC
In retrospect, it is quite annoying that SNL bring real images of real corpses to television, sandwiched between the star of St. Elmo’s Fire He makes jokes about Michael Dukakis and Jim Breuer imitates Joe Pesci.
While the images may have been very familiar to viewers at the time, having been featured prominently on news broadcasts, to reuse them for a comedy show after just 14 days seems both disgusting and exploitative.
You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists at the time you read this).
