In a video address at the Al Smith Dinner on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris attempted humor with the former president. saturday night live Cast member Molly Shannon dressed up as a Catholic high school girl character from 25 years ago.
Harris will be the first major party presidential candidate to skip the dinner since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon both attended in 1960. The only years in which no candidate appeared on stage were the 1996, 2000 and 2004 election cycles. The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation did not invite candidates to attend.
The banquet is named after New York Governor Al Smith (1928), the first Catholic to run for president. It's usually a fun “roast” style event where candidates share the stage and poke fun at themselves and their opponents.
Harris' campaign initially reported that she would not attend at all, but a short time later it was decided to cut a video address to attendees during this year's event, which was held on Thursday.
Harris' video began with the vice president speaking at a dinner party. SNL star Shannon jumped up and down behind her. Eventually, Harris stopped his speech and asked, “Who was that?”
From there, Shannon jumps into frame dressed as the down-on-his-luck Catholic high school girl character Mary Katherine Geller. And she and Harris continued to joke about what Catholics need to hear in the vice president's speech.
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It's clear that Mary Katherine Geller's character has a Catholic theme, but it probably wasn't the best idea for Harris to go back 25 years and create a Catholic theme. saturday night live The least popular part mocks Catholic faith and tradition as her introduction to the Al Smith Dinner.
In fact, Mary Katherine Geller's character was the subject of a 1999 film. SNL movie, superstarwhich happened to be the worst-rated and lowest-rated bomb of all movies based on characters from the late-night series. it has On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, it received a low rating of 32% among critics and only 59% among fans.
After viewers watched this part of her video, it caused a stir, with people calling it “disgusting'' and “historically awful.''
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