Saoirse Ronan’s ‘SNL’ sketch criticised for promoting Irish stereotypes

'Lady Bird' star hosted this weekend's episode of 'Saturday Night Live'

Saturday Night Live has been criticised for a sketch in this weekend’s episode which promoted several Irish stereotypes.

Irish actor Saoirse Ronan – the star of Greta Gerwig’s new film, Lady Bird – was the guest host on the long-running US comedy show. Her fellow countrymen U2 were the musical guests.

One sketch saw Ronan appear as an Aer Lingus flight attendant that referenced several Irish stereotypes.

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“We get it, Irish people like dogs and poetry and potatoes and our accents are funny. Classic,” Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow wrote of the sketch on Twitter.

One Twitter user wrote: “Can you die from second-hand embarrassment?,” while another accused Ronan of “play[ing] up her begorrah and bejaysus Oirish paddywackery shtick”.

https://twitter.com/GerryMcBride/status/937407191912460289

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Aer Lingus have since responded to the sketch, parodying Donald Trump in their tweet. See that below.

Elsewhere during the episode, Saoirse Ronan performed a song to help people pronounce her name.

In her opening monologue, Ronan joked: “It is so great to be here hosting the St Patrick’s Day episode of Saturday Night Live – just a few months early!”

She continued: “Yes, I am very Irish and I have an extremely Irish name – some would say too Irish. It’s Saoirse. It means freedom. But, you see, I have a little problem. It’s spelled… well, it’s spelled wrong. It’s a full typo.”

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