Tara Lake

Kevin Hart’s “hilarious” sketch from last Saturday’s episode of Saturday Night Live, in which he donned a dress and mocked 9-year-old “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhane Wallis, was anything but amusing.  In what was ostensibly a skit spoofing CNN’s show the “Situation Room” and host Wolf Blitzer, SNL pounced on a tasteless opportunity to craft yet another media attack on the child actress and Oscar nominee.  Hart’s SNL debut, which received tepid reviews, had more than a few strange race moments and missed marks.  Yet in the “Situation Room” sketch alone, Hart managed to fall for the “black comic in a dress” trick, demean a talented black girl, and aid in discrediting the notion of a black pope.

Set up as a news segment, the skit pokes light fun at anchor Blitzer’s (Jason Sudeikis) occasional mumbling and the hokey news banter between Blitzer and correspondent Erin Carbonal (Cecliy Strong).  Initially, the skit appears to be yet another rag on CNN’s obsession with the Pope’s successor and other less than “newsy news”, but it becomes clear that the joke isn’t on real life Blitzer or the news network.

In the sketch, Strong’s character posits that the selection of Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson as the “first African pope” (not likely the first, actually) would signal a “new, more progressive Catholic Church”.  Seconds later, she announces the Conclave of Cardinals has selected a new pope: Quvenzhane Wallis.  Out walks Kevin Hart, dressed as ...