HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series has attracted plenty of negative attention since it was announced in 2023. This weekend, “Saturday Night Live” addressed one of the more consistently discussed problems with the new series: that the only prominent Black character is also considered evil for much of the series.
Paapa Essiedu’s casting as Professor Severus Snape has been equally celebrated and derided, and even those who support the casting have expressed concern about how the character will be portrayed and received. Essideu himself addressed some of the racist comments and death threats he’s received in March.
Kam Patterson portrayed “Black Snape” last night on “SNL’s” Weekend Update,” and he first acknowledged host Colin Jost with a faux British accent before he said, “Nah, I’m playing. I don’t talk like that, bro. It’s called code-switching. Codio switchio!”
After Jost asked how things were at Hogwarts, Patterson answered, “Not great. We got this new kid. His name is Harry Potter, and he’s racist as hell.”
He continued, “Harry Potter — or, the Proud Boy Who Lived — spent the whole year telling everybody that the school’s only Black teacher was secretly evil.”
Jost defended Potter and noted, “I think he’s just worried because he knows someone’s trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
“So. Somebody stole something…” Patterson slowly answered before he added, “…And the number-one suspect is Black Snape?”
Patterson also pointed out that Snape teaches the Dark Arts, and said, “The whole Wizarding World is racist. There’s one other Black guy, Kingsley Shacklebolt, a name I’m guessing they got out of the Wu-Tang name generator.”
Jost concluded, “Well, for the very first time I’m starting to think J.K. Rowling might be problematic” — a pointed reference to the author’s many political controversies in recent years.
Patterson-as-Snape wasn’t quite finished with things. Before the segment closed out, he faced the camera and said, “I do have one final thing I’d like to say to Harry Potter… Boy, your mama was thick as hell, dog. I miss her so much.”
Watch the clip from “Saturday Night Live” in the video above. HBO’s “Harry Potter” series debuts this Christmas.
