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Did Regina King nail SNL debut? Her Black fame jokes leave fans unimpressed, viewers say ‘she deserves better’

The powerhouse starlet looked radiant in a formal light green outfit as she tickled the audience’s funny bone with her opening monologue

Regina King, best known for her work on the award-winning TV series ‘Watchmen’, debuted as a host on ‘Saturday Night Live (SNL)’ on February 13. The Academy Award winner was joined by musical guest Nathaniel Rateliff.

The powerhouse starlet looked radiant in a formal light green outfit as she tickled the audience’s funny bone with her opening monologue. She recalled her “pretty wild career” while getting support from SNL regular Kenan Thompson, who landed on the stage as her hype-man.
 
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In her opening lines of the monologue, the ‘One Night in Miami’ director said, “I remember watching Eddie Murphy on the show when I was a little kid, and thinking, 'Wow, someday I'll be on that stage.' Then he left and I was like, 'Hm, I'm good.’ I'm kidding. It's such an honor to be here.” She said that she is aware that audiences may have first learned about her from different titles. “If you’re Black, you probably know me from being in some of your favorite movies. If you’re white you probably know me from 'Watchmen' or this monologue,” she quipped. 

While speaking about Black fame, she added, “Whenever Black fame gets too crazy for me, I just go to the next white town and I’m the regular suspicious shopper again.” Speaking of Kenna Thompson, he helped Regina with her very first hosting duty as he donned a wide-brimmed hat and chains giving a nod to Run-D.M.C. and rapped about Regina’s career accomplishments. 

‘Regina King deserves better’

While a few praised Regina’s debut on SNL, a few also slammed the writers of the show saying that she deserved better. One person tweeted, “Regina King doing anything in any of these skits on SNL is iconic.” Another said, “I give that SNL a 9/10. Regina King even made a Kyle Mooney skit look good that's hard so hard to do I swear!!! Best SNL episode this season since the Chappelle hosted episode no question about it! #SNL.” On shared, “I did it!” I appreciate Regina King’s desire to do well but does she know who she is? She is literally Regina King. There is literally nothing she can’t do. #SNL”

One slammed the show and posted, “What happens #snl? We srsly hv-ing a sketch w/ the only Asian cast kept getting slapped/beaten up, following the weeks of rising violence against Asian Americans, during Lunar NY? Regina King is great, she deserves better than all the questionable sketches this week.” The next one echoed similar sentiments and said, “Regina King deserves better than that.” Another added, “SNL needs new writers. Regina King deserves better than this.” One concluded, “This #SNL episode is a bit of a dud (writing has sucked) but Regina King has been amazing for a host.”