The Gothamist Daily first reported details of the Los Angeles showcase, including a Dec. 2 Instagram photo from Simone Shepherd, one of the 11 women who tried out along with Shepherd’s tweet (which has since been taken down): “The hilarious BLACK women who just rock the SNL audition #WeJustMadeHistory.” Among the 11 was comedic actress Darmirra Brunson, who is best known for her role as Drew on the Tyler Perry sitcom Love Thy Neighbor.
“All told we’ve seen about 25 people,” Michaels told the Times. “A lot of the people we saw are really good. Hopefully we’ll come out of the process well.”
SNL is a late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels that premiered on NBC in 1975. Now in its 39th season, SNL has featured only 13 African American cast members. Garrett Morris was among the original cast members while the most iconic black alums are Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. SNL has cast only four African American women (Maya Rudolph who left the show in 2007 is biracial) in the last four decades, reports DiversityInc.com, despite multiple openings almost every year.
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