Michael Imperioli told Newsweek that a Saturday Night Live sketch about Aimee Lou Wood, his castmate in The White Lotus, was “pretty mean.”
SNL mocked Wood’s teeth during a sketch titled “The White Potus” in which Sarah Sherman did an impersonation of her.
Wood plays Chelsea in Season 3 of the Netflix series, while Imperioli starred in Season 2 as Dominic Di Grasso.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Jazz At Lincoln Center and Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Imperioli spoke about the sketch to Newsweek on the red carpet of a Jazz at Lincoln Center gala in tribute to Duke Ellington on April 30: “Yeah, that was pretty mean, mean-spirited. I guess they apologized, didn’t they? It’s a tricky thing because comedy, you know, I don’t like having to over-censure comedy but you do have to be a little bit tactful.
“She’s a young actress and we want to give her some support. She’s quite good.”
Sherman sent Wood a bunch of flowers, which The White Lotus star posted on Instagram with the caption: “Thank you for the beautiful flowers.” In another post, she wrote: “I’ve had apologies from SNL.”
Wood had previously said on her Instagram that she found the sketch “cheap,” writing: “Whilst in honest mode—I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny.”
“The joke was about fluoride,” she added. “I have big gap teeth not bad teeth. Yes, take the p*** for sure—that’s what the show is about—but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?
“I actually love being taken the p*** out of when it’s clever and in good spirits. I don’t mind caricature—I understand that’s what ‘SNL’ is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”
The episode was all the more charged because Wood had told GQ magazine that White Lotus showrunner Mike White had to convince HBO that she should have the part, and she felt it was because of her looks.
“Someone told me how much Mike had fought for me,” she said. “They said ‘it had to be you, no matter what HBO said.’ It was honestly from the nicest place, but my little head goes: ‘HBO didn’t want me. And I know why HBO didn’t want me, it’s because I’m ugly. Mike had to say ‘Please let me have the ugly girl!'”
“That was the thing that was in my head,” she added.
Imperioli made his comments during a gala held the day after what would have been jazz icon Ellington’s 126th birthday.
“Duke Ellington is very New York,” he said, “and it represents a real elegance and complexity and just that there’s a gravity to his work that’s important. Supporting jazz is really important. I think making sure that it continues and that younger generations appreciate it and discover it.”
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.
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