Tim Graham, in a Sept. 12 NewsBusters post, doesn’t take the news that “Saturday Night Live” “is dumping its Caucasian Obama impersonator and going with a fully black Obama,” Jay Pharoah, very well. Graham adds: “Obama is half-black, so is Pharoah more authentically Obama-like?”
Graham seems not to have considered that perhaps Pharoah is a better Obama impersonator than the previous one, Fred Armisen. As Slate’s David Haglund notes: “Armisen mostly captured Obama’s nerdy side,” but “Pharoah may highlight the president’s well documented swagger.” Slate’s Alisha Harris adds that Pharoah is “clearly an upgrade—not simply because he’s black, but because he has a better feel for the Commander in Chief’s intonations and tics than Armisen ever showed.” Harris adds, “Pharoah is a more formidable impressionist than Armisen, and he may continue to make the role his own.”
Time adds: “Aurally speaking, the new Comedian in Chief nailed it — in the episode’s opening scene, he perfectly matched Obama’s cadence, intonation and verbal tics.”
Nobody else, it seems, has an issue with the “SNL” switch. Why does Graham?