Sarah Palin: I hate that Tina Fey made me look like an idiot
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Sarah Palin still seems a bit resentful toward Saturday Night Live when it comes to its backwater beauty queen depiction of her during the lead-up to the 2008 election.
In an excerpt from the new edition of SNL tell-all “Live From New York,” printed in the Hollywood Reporter, Palin had this to say about her decision to be a guest on the show: “I know that they portrayed me as an idiot, and I hated that, and I wanted to come on the show and counter some of that.”
This isn’t the first time she’s voiced displeasure with Tina Fey and her epic impression. Back in 2009, Sarah Palin said it was “perplexing” that the comedian was named entertainer of the year, and that “it also says a great deal about our society.”
Of course, she was a bit on the defensive, considering the lampooning she had endured. Five years later, Palin hasn’t forgotten.
If given the chance, she’d tell Fey: “You need to at least pay for my kids’ braces or something from all the money that you made off of pretending that you’re me! My goodness, you capitalized on that! Can’t you contribute a little bit? Jeez!”
Palin also blew off what the show did to her career trajectory.
“SNL is egotistical if they believe that it was truly an effect on maybe the public debate about who should lead the country in the next four years,” she said.
On the other hand, Horatio Sanz, a cast member at the time, had no doubt of its impact, or the impact of Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush.
“As funny as Will’s impression was, the audience, the whole country, would probably see that as, ‘Oh, I like Bush. Because he’s Will,’ he said. “You know, if Will hadn’t done that impression, or at least made him likable, it may have tipped it the other way. I honestly think so. We made up for it. I think Tina’s impression basically killed Sarah Palin.” A stretch? Well, at least one study at the time supported Sanz.
Just how much Palin’s doppleganger hurt the candidate’s chances in the political arena is debatable, especially considering the missteps she had of her own doing. What isn’t up for debate is that Fey absolutely nailed it with “And I can see Russia from my house” and global warming is “just God hugging us a little bit closer.”
— Shawn Langlois
Follow @slangwise |
