Saturday Night Live opened its show this week at CNN’s Equality Town Hall, featuring an early cameo from Pose’s Billy Porter, who introduced the 2020 presidential candidates one by one.
And one by one, they were each faced with concerns about their problematic pasts, beginning with Chris Redd’s Cory Booker, who expertly dodged a question about his evolution on same-sex marriage. Asked how he responds to those who say he’s not gay enough, Colin Jost’s Pete Buttigieg replied, “You know, I've heard that, but there's no wrong way to be gay… unless you're Ellen this week.”
Kate McKinnon’s Elizabeth Warren fared a lot better. “If someone doesn't want to serve gay people at their small business, I bet that's not the only thing that's small,” she said. “And when people say gay and trans people shouldn't be included in civil rights protections, well, I wish their parents had used protection.”
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And then there was Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda debuting his Julian Castro impression. He strode out onto the stage to cheers before apologizing for not being gay. “However, I am Latino, which we can all agree is something,” he said, nicknaming himself “Latinobama.”
Finally, season premiere host Woody Harrelson made his triumphant return to SNL as Vice President Joe Biden and managed to be only slightly more awkward than Biden was at the actual CNN event earlier this week.
“The vast majority of people in America are not homophobic,” he said. “They're just scared of gay people.”
“That’s what homophobic means, Joe,” Alex Moffat’s Anderson Cooper replied.
“Look, you know me, I went to bat for marriage equality and I believe we’re all equal,” Biden added, “whether you're gay, lesbie, transgenital or queef, you're OK with Joe.” Then, to prove just how gay friendly he is, he planted a kiss on Cooper.
“You just helped me win a bet, Joe,” the CNN host said. “I think we’re done here.”
