Armisen Not Dark Enough To Play Obama?

A recent web report claimed that Fred Armisen's Obama impersonation on Saturday Night Live might be sent to the benches because he doesn't really look or sound like the Prez elect. Those are pretty good reasons! In his place, the show supposedly wants to use someone more hue-appropriate, not to mention more hue-morously appropriate.

Well, one of the millions of readers of this blog seems thrilled by this change of face. As he wrote in a letter to the media, which he generously forwarded to me:

"Upon seeing Armisen playing Obama, I had flashbacks to the beginning of the Clinton years. Tim Meadows, a black cast member, donned a Bill Clinton wig and tried out the Arkansas accent for the cameras in a faux screen test. The joke was that Meadows was never going to make the cut.

Fast forward to today, now that the opportunity is there for a black actor to play the first black president, Lorne Michaels and NBC are crass enough to claim that there is no black man who is 'good enough' to take on the role.

Shame on SNL for trying to turn the next president into the subject for a blackface or ministrel show instead of opening the doors that the voters already opened on November 4."

Well it sounds like Michaels is about to reverse his initial impulse and hang up the Max Factor bronzer. But for total accuracy, maybe he should get someone half black?