Saoirse Ronan isn't having the backlash around that Aer Lingus sketch on 'SNL'
Lots of people weren't thrilled with Saturday Night Live for capitalizing on the presence of Irish-American guest host Saoirse Ronan with a sketch about Ireland's Aer Lingus airline.
Ronan, as it turns out, wasn't one of them.
The sketch drew criticism for leaning on Irish stereotypes and jokes that felt to many like the show was grasping for low-hanging fruit. A social media backlash followed, because this is 2017 and nothing captures strident anger with a faceless offender quite like a Twitter timeline.
Ronan defended the sketch on Friday in an appearance on The Late Late Show, an Irish talk show on the country's RTÉ television network.
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"It's fun," she said. "The show is a comedy show and it was a huge thing for me to go on. I mean, it's a dream come true for someone to get to do something like that."
Ronan went on to reveal that, in many ways, she wanted to see something like that come from her appearance. The SNL creative process is an iterative one, she said, with sketches being cut and added all the time. Ronan had a voice in that process, and SNL creator Lorne Michaels asked her specifically what she wanted.
"Whenever he would ask me [what I wanted], I would always say I really want to use my own accent as much as possible, and I want there to be at least one Irish sketch in there," she said.
That's not to say anyone was wrong for feeling offended, or simply for not enjoying the sketch. But don't overlook Ronan's creative involvement here, or rush too quickly to paint SNL in an insensitive light.
That said, Ronan's appearance on The Late Late Show prompted further responses from viewers, who were more than happy to clarify their feelings on the matter.
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Topics NBC SNL Celebrities
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
