Former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill testifies during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on holding campus leaders accountable and confronting antisemitism, at the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, on Dec. 5, 2023. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

There are ways to lampoon and mock the college presidents who failed to admit that calling for the genocide of Jews is against their university codes of conduct. Apparently, the writers of Saturday Night Live are not aware of any. Or if they are, they wanted to tread lightly.

The NBC show opened with a sketch with their cast members depicting Harvard President Claudine Gay, UPenn’s Liz Magill (who resigned before the sketch aired), and MIT President Susan Kornbluth.

All three leaders said that calling for the genocide of Jews was acceptable depending on the context. They should all be fired. None of them would have ever said that if the people in question were Black, or a different minority.

But instead of exposing these three college presidents, SNL chose to mock and demonize New York Republican Elise Stefanik. Shame on them.

I’ve been writing about antisemitism at colleges for some time, with people saying it was overblown.

No one believes that anymore. But now that it’s absurdly obvious for the world to see, SNL cowardly went after the person trying to stop these three vile college presidents. It’s all a distraction technique to make people look away from what actually happened.

We’re not looking away.

SNL newcomer Chloe Troast looked nothing like Stefanik, and didn’t sound like her. And there was a joke that she is Roman Catholic and some of her best friends are … wait for it … Roman Catholic! Oh so funny! So only Jews should care about antisemitism? Where’s the joke? Pathetic.

Chloe Fineman at least got the speech pattern and cadence right of Kornbluth. Ego Nwodim was decent in the mannerisms and diction of Gay, and Heidi Gardner was nothing like Magill.

The bright spot was Keenan Thompson as a leader of the online University of Phoenix. Thompson is funny in almost anything he is in.

The actual hearing was far funnier (and tragic and infuriating) than the sketch, because the presidents looked down at what their lawyers told them to say, and didn’t seem to care that what they were saying was abominable.

The “joke” was that Stefanik was going to “scream antisemitism” like she was Billy Eichner. Eichner is an actor and comedian who has nothing to do with Stefanik. There’s simply no connection. And there was a lame joke about Gay’s last name. Seriously? I thought the writer’s strike was over.

There are a number of Jewish comedians who could have written better sketches in their sleep. I could have as well. I could find someone on the NYC subway with a better idea. There was more than enough to cull from. How about Ross Stevens, who threatened to cancel a $100 million endowment to UPenn?

Magill and Gay were smiling/smirking while giving testimony. It wasn’t a laughing matter. SNL could have spoofed the horror film Smile, where people infected with murderous desire smile, and shown the actress playing Magill smiling while speaking.

Israel’s Eretz Nehederet had far funnier sketches mocking Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as well as the BBC, which helps him by spewing misinformation.

Mistreatment of Jews on campus has been going on for years, though it has certainly gotten much worse since October 7. Satire can serve to expose lapses of morality, and can also entertain. SNL failed on both accounts.

I saw a meme online showing Hitler’s book titled, “Mein Context.” It’s far better than anything SNL produced.

The author is a writer based in New York.