Saturday Night Live, the landmark NBC program known for its firm stance on matters of diversity, has just announced another in a long series of progressive casting choices. Ahead of its 41st season, SNL is picking up noted white guy Jon Rudnitsky as a "featured player." According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rudnitsky recently performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival as part of its New Faces program. Rudnitsky, in addition to being a white guy, is also a 25-year-old USC graduate with a 2012 Laugh Bowl victory under his belt.
The SNL empire, spearheaded by Lorne Michaels, has a near-perfect track record for acknowledging white comedians in the face of grave difficulty. When the series premiered in 1975, it took a bold stance against racial inequality by presenting an almost entirely white cast to American audiences, a groundbreaking move that redefined television for decades.
Saturday Night Live returns on October 3 with host Miley Cyrus.
