Saturday Night Live star Sarah Sherman has shared her regret after “upsetting” Aimee Lou Wood with a controversial sketch about her teeth.
Sherman, 32, wore exaggerated fake teeth while parodying Wood, 31, last month in a skit about the Trump family and several political figures staying at a White Lotus-style resort.
In the sketch, Walton Goggins’ character Rick was recast as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who launched into a bizarre monologue about removing “all the fluoride out of the water”.
The camera then cut to Sherman as Wood’s character Chelsea, saying in a British accent: “Fluoride? What’s that?”
Wood, 31, criticised SNL for appearing to mock her appearance, calling the joke “cheap” and “mean” in a lengthy statement on Instagram.
Sherman has now broken her silence on the controversy, revealing she sent Wood flowers and “feels terrible” for offending the Mancunian actress.
"I was excited to play her because she’s so iconic, her character is so iconic, and I f***ing obviously never meant to hurt anyone’s feelings," she told Vanity Fair.
"Never in a million years did I get into comedy to make anyone upset. I feel terrible that anyone would feel bad.”
She added that she “totally” has to think about the possibility of offending people while doing sketches.
"The show is in constant dialogue with culture as it’s happening, and it happens really fast. You have to be vigilant, you know what I mean?" the comedian said.
Sex Education star Wood called out SNL on Instagram, writing: “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago. Yes, take the p**s for sure – that’s what the show is about – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?
“I am not thin-skinned. I actually love being taken the p**s out of when it’s clever and in good spirits. But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth, not bad teeth.
“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… Okay, end of.”
She later revealed SNL had issued an apology to her.
Wood also spoke about the sketch at the Met Gala earlier this month, telling Entertainment Tonight: “It all got very out of control.
“My whole thinking was I could either say something because I saw it and people were angry about it… and have it be said, and I won’t spiral inwardly, and feel terrible about myself.”
