On Wednesday’s episode of Saturday Night Live alums Dana Carvey and David Spade’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast, it was revealed that Hillary Clinton was upset with Julia Sweeney’s SNL impression of a teenaged Chelsea Clinton.
The former Secretary of State “wrote a letter” to SNL creator Lorne Michaels about the sketch, which aired on the show in 1993.
Sweeney brought up the letter while talking on the podcast about the lack of female representation on SNL during the early 1990s. Sweeney claimed it was rare to have sketches that featured predominantly female cast members. That’s even though likely public targets like the Clintons and Sarah Palin were in the news.
Spade noted that Sweeney had once portrayed Chelsea Clinton and that it “rubbed somebody wrong.”
The Clintons were notoriously protective of Chelsea during their time in the White House.
“People were saying how unattractively I was playing Chelsea, and all I did was not wear makeup and put braces on,” Sweeney said. “If you say that, you’re saying I’m unattractive!” She claimed that she “wasn’t trying to play her unattractive.
“I just didn’t wear makeup and put on braces,” Sweeney said. “That was it, and a wig. A long wig.” Nonetheless, Sweeney said, “I understood what Hillary was saying, especially now that I’m a parent. It’s like, yeah f— off. I mean, don’t play kids. That was wrong. She was right, that was wrong.”
Although Sweeney didn’t touch the role again, SNL continued with its digs against Chelsea Clinton. In a Wayne’s World sketch, Mike Myers and Carvey’s characters suggested the teen wasn’t as attractive as then-vice president Al Gore’s daughters. Michaels issued an apology on behalf of the show to the 13-year-old Chelsea.
“We felt, upon reflection, that if it was in any way hurtful, it wasn’t worth it,” Michaels said at the time. “She’s a kid, a kid who didn’t choose to be in public life.”