The transgender community is criticizing Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost after he made a joke saying gender identity is the reason Democrats lost the November elections.
“It’s called, ‘Why the Democrats lost the election.’“
Jost made the joke during SNL’s “Weekend Update” when making remarks about the dating app Tinder’s rollout of new gender options. “The dating app Tinder announced a new feature this week which gives users 37 different gender identity options,” said Jost. “It’s called, ‘Why the Democrats lost the election.’“ The joke came as the morning of the Transgender Day of Remembrance approached, which magnified the tastelessness of the comedian’s jab.
The comic tried to defend the joke as he received a backlash on Twitter, citing an OpEd that appeared in the New York Times written by Mark Lilla later that morning that blames identity politics as one of the reasons for Hillary Clinton’s election defeat. “Identity politics, by contrast, is largely expressive, not persuasive. Which is why it never wins elections — but can lose them,” Lilla says in the article.
In the middle of the Twitter backlash was punk duo PWR BTTM, who called Jost out over his remarks.
@PWRBTTMBAND so you think 100 percent of Trump voters were hatred and 0 percent had any other rationale?
— Colin Jost (@ColinJost) November 22, 2016
@PWRBTTMBAND I worry about not doing any self-examination and making the same mistake again.
— Colin Jost (@ColinJost) November 22, 2016
@ColinJost dude just like wake up, acknowledge your bs. We need you, you’re on the most important comedy show ever
— pwr bttm? (@PWRBTTMBAND) November 22, 2016
In spite of Jost’s comments, there is no polling data that suggests identity politics were the reason for Donald Trump’s election victory. His remarks came on a day when transgender people mourn the loss of those in their community who were murdered in the past year.
