The leader of Baltimore’s police union isn’t laughing at a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that depicted the city’s officers.
Over the weekend, the NBC show aired a sketch in which two black female police officers harassed a white male character during a traffic stop, ogling his body and asking him suggestively if he liked to “go downtown.” Baltimore’s police force wasn’t mentioned in the “Thirsty Cops” skit, but the comedians wore Baltimore police patches on their uniforms.
In a Wednesday letter to “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels, Lt. Gene S. Ryan, president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #3, expressed “great disappointment over the distorted representation” of Baltimore officers. Ryan said he appreciated the humor of the “iconic” show but that the sketch was disrespectful.
In the four-minute sketch, comedians Leslie Jones and Ego Nwodim, a Baltimore native who’s a newcomer to the show, pull over Seth Meyers.
A spokeswoman for “SNL” declined to respond to questions on the sketch or the use of Baltimore police badges.
