Lorne Michaels Defends ‘SNL’ Diversity: ‘We’ve Been Breaking Those Barriers From the Very Beginning’

“If that was how we were perceived then it had to be addressed, which is what I did,” producer says

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Lorne Michaels doesn’t buy into criticism that there is a lack of diversity on “Saturday Night Live.”

“It started on a website or podcast, and then it was an editorial in The New York Times. And you go, ‘No, we’ve been breaking those barriers from the very beginning,’” the show’s creator and producer said in an interview with NPR.

“But I understand perception is everything, and I live in a world of perception, and if that was how we were perceived then it had to be addressed, which is what I did,” he continued. “But it didn’t come from any place of intent or meanness, it came from looking every year for the best people we can find.”

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