Amid controversy and criticism for a lack of diversity in the cast, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels held secret auditions in Los Angeles to find new black female cast members, Indiewire is reporting. The news broke after one actress who participated in the auditions last week, Bresha Webb, spoke to TheJasmineBrand about it, and another actress, Gabrielle Dennis, actually tweeted a picture from the auditions.
The auditions, according to Webb, were held at The Groundlings in LA, which is a legendary improv company in LA that numerous SNL cast members, including Cheri Oteri, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, and Chris Parnell, have previously been apart of. Those who auditioned were apparently only given two days notice, and were handpicked by an "inside source" from SNL.
Amongst those who auditioned: Darmirra Brunson of Tyler Perry's Love Thy Neighbor on the OWN Network, and the same comedian that current SNL cast member Jay Pharoah suggested should be on the show when he openly spoke about the lack of diversity in the cast.
Deadline reports that they reached out to Michaels, but he hasn't yet made a comment on the auditions.
[via Indiewire]
