It’s 2024, and traditional TV ratings mean very little these days. Instead, it’s all about the vibe — and boy, did Sydney Sweeney bring the right vibe back to Saturday Night Live this past weekend.
The numbers are just starting to trickle in from over the weekend after Sweeney hosted the late comedy show for the first time. They’re not as good as you might expect, given how the episode still continues to go viral — a rare occurrence for an SNL now mostly committed to making the same three Donald Trump jokes over and over again. While Sweeney gained a marginal boost in viewers from comedian Shane Gillis’ episode the week before, the show actually went down 16% in the key 18-49 demographic, according to Nielsen Ratings. But those numbers only reflect same day viewers. These days, it’s the discourse bubbling online that really counts.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 12: Lorne Michaels (C), winner of Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for “Saturday Night Live,” poses in the press room with Bowen Yang (L) and Kate McKinnon (R) during the 74th Primetime Emmys at Microsoft Theater on September 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 12: Lorne Michaels (3rd L) and writers/producers of “Saturday Night Live,” winners of Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, pose in the press room during the 74th Primetime Emmys at Microsoft Theater on September 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 19: Lorne Michaels (R) and fellow producers of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ winners of Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, pose in the press room during the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards at L.A. LIVE on September 19, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
Clips from the episode went viral on social media, and even gained traction on traditional cable news. Viewers couldn’t get enough of her opening monologue as well as the obligatory Hooters sketch — both of which were uncharacteristically quite funny for SNL. One 17-second clip of her goodnight sign-off, in a revealing but tasteful little black dress, garnered over 58 million viewers on X, while some claimed a bombshell blonde hosting an episode largely centered on how hot she is indicates the death of wokeness in America.
Wokeness is dead. pic.twitter.com/ei53Worgjx
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) March 3, 2024
Now, Sweeney’s episode might not mark a definitive time of death for wokeness, but it sure as hell shows that Americans, writ large, are sick of what it has to say about American life and values. SNL knows this, which is why it picked Sweeney (as well as the overtly anti-PC comic Gillis) to host in the first place.
Sweeney, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed knockout from the Heartland with a Christian upbringing and at least some MAGA-adjacent family members, is everything the woke left believes is wrong with America. Sweeney is a part of America’s nebulous systems of oppression. Thanks to her looks, she benefits from a system designed to benefit the women straight white men find attractive. Her mere existence is the reason why “marginalized” women can’t find success in Hollywood. Fewer Sweeneys, and more multiracial obese transgender women, the woke left demands. (RELATED: Sydney Sweeney Hilariously Shuts Down Alleged Scammer Trying To Cash In On Her Name)
This is really how the left thinks. Beauty, youth, vitality, fundamental laws of attraction — these are not objective truths, timeless throughout history. No, they’re “social constructs,” all a game of insidious power politics designed to empower the few at the expense of the many. People who buy into them are brainwashed, bigoted or both. Ugliness is the point; it disrupts the status quo the left believes maintains the system of oppression.
For a while, people went along with it. Seemingly overnight, an entire cottage industry popped up around the “big is beautiful” craze. Lizzo, one of the most famous pop stars of the moment, built a music career, television and fashion line around being morbidly obese. Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie company famous for showcasing some of the world’s most beautiful women in its annual fashion show, underwent a money-sucking, woke revamp. Instead, it began to showcase fat and transgender models, as well leftist soccer player Megan Rapinoe. Even the Miss Universe pageant is proudly “defying traditional beauty standards” in order to be more “inclusive,” Global Woman Leader reported.
Victoria’s Secret swapped the angels for wokeness and Megan Rapinoe, it backfired.
Now they are ditching prioritizing wokeness over ‘sexiness’ after sales drop.https://t.co/f5POozUxmA pic.twitter.com/2vtQYS5Zmd
— OutKick (@Outkick) October 18, 2023
What this really comes down to is a celebration of both ugliness and falseness. And our culture, which now worships both, demands that we concede there’s nothing objectively beautiful about a woman like Sydney Sweeney. They call it inclusivity, but at its core, it’s simply an attack on excellence. The left insists we deny some people are hotter than others, just as they insist we deny some people are smarter, faster and deservedly more successful than others. The only problem is, this is a lot harder to pull off when it comes to looks. No one really believes Lizzo or Megan Rapinoe are anywhere near as beautiful as Sydney Sweeney, even if they cheer along for a while. But give Americans a dose of Sydney Sweeney, and the house of cards comes crashing down. (RELATED: SNL Tried To Pivot. It Failed Spectacularly)
Conservatives have been saying this all along, but mainstream cultural arbiters like SNL are just now coming to accept it out of pure self-interest. SNL’s embrace of Sweeney is an attempt to save their record low ratings. It won’t work; even with Sweeney at the helm, the show still clings to all of the other stale leftist narratives Americans are sick of hearing about. Men cannot be women, beauty is real, excellence exists, pin ups are not a function of the vile patriarchy — and SNL still sucks, despite its attempt to glom onto these real things.