Daniel Kaluuya’s ‘SNL’ monologue rags on racism
Kaluuya's SNL debut compared racism in America and Britain
Daniel Kaluuya, Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner (for Judas and the Black Messiah), hosted Saturday Night Live on April 3 and performed a monologue on the subject of transatlantic racism.
“I know you’re hearing my accent and thinking, ‘Oh no, he’s not Black. He’s British.’ Let me reassure you that I am Black. I’m Black and I’m British,” he said. “Basically, I’m what the royal family was worried the baby would look like,” making reference to Prince Harry‘s and Meghan Markle‘s son Archie Harrison and the royal family’s racism scandal, as reported by E!
In a March interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle, pregnant with the couple’s second child, revealed that their first-born will be granted neither a royal title nor royal security, and that the royal family had “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” according to E!
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“People ask me, ‘What’s worse, British racism or American racism?'” He answered, holding back his own laughter, “Let me put it this way. British racism is so bad, white people left. They wanted to be free. Free to create their own kind of racism. That’s why they invented Australia, South Africa and Boston.”
In one of the monologue’s more benign moments, he aired a video of his Golden Globe Award acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, which much to Kaluuya’s embarrassment was partially muted due to a Zoom malfunction. “I felt like I was in the sunken place,” he said according to Variety, borrowing a line from Jordan Peele‘s Get Out.
Read More: Daniel Kaluuya’s Golden Globes win hampered by bad audio: ‘You did me dirty!’
Kaluuya shared some charming personal tidbits about his Ugandan lineage, for which he received uproarious applause, especially from one audience member whom he jested was “his auntie.”
“My mom is one of 22 kids and my dad is one of 49,” he said. “My family’s sperm is literally about that life. They say Black don’t crack but condoms do.”
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Just before kicking off the show, he took a moment to express what seemed to be sincere gratitude for God, his mom and Kel, as in Kel Mitchell of the 90’s kids’ comedy series Kenan & Kel. Kenan & Kel starred SNL cast member Kenan Thompson, whom Kaluuya said he credits for his first theatrical success, as a play he wrote and produced “with real actors and everything” when he was 9-years-old, was based on the Nickelodeon TV show.
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