Actor and SNL alum Bill Hader has opened up about one of his most iconic characters…and his discomfort in reviving him.
Hader rose to fame with his stint on the late-night comedy stalwart which ran from 2005-2013. His signature character became the flamboyant “Weekend Update city correspondent” Stefon, a role he wrote alongside John Mullaney. Stefon slew audiences with his mix of whispered nightclub recommendations and sordid personal issues. Hader’s penchant for breaking character and laughing also made audiences swoon over the character; Mullaney and Hader would write the sketches together, then Mullaney would rewrite them without Hader’s input. The actor would then read dialogue off cue cards without knowing what he would say, and lose his composure in the process.
Now, despite the enduring popularity of Stefon, Hader says he hesitates to return to the role. Speaking with The Guardian, Hader revealed that he’s turned down offers to reprise the role on SNL, fearing that the current political climate would sour viewers on Stefon’s flamboyance.
Related: Stefon is Back! Maybe, Eventually.
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“I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s really a good thing to do now,’” he said. “I mean, we had an openly racist, homophobic and misogynistic president, and half the country voted for him – twice! So [those attitudes] are really prevalent.”
“[The political climate] made me back up a bit and say, ‘Wait, maybe people see this character a different way,'” he continued. “Because I really love Stefon and it never occurred to me that he would be seen as a stereotype, and that really hurt.”
“The thought that anyone might think I was making fun of gay people really sucks,” he concluded. “So I’m not saying I’d never play [that character] again, but not today.”
Frankly, that disappoints us. We loved Stefon, in all his messy, gay glory, and even if Hader is straight, he made the character vulnerable and lovable. Besides, his on-screen “romance” with “Weekend Update” anchor Seth Meyers also gave LGBTQ viewers a same-sex couple to root for.
Besides, without Stefon, how will we know which nightclubs to visit next time we’re in New York?
barryaksarben
LOVE Bill’s statement of why. what a great guy
Bosch
Everyone I know loves Stefon. I think there is enough variety in LGBT representation on TV that we can stop worrying about whether a gay character is flamboyant. It’s kinda homophobic to insist that every gay guy on TV should be “straight acting”.
bachy
Hader’s ‘Stefon’ and Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Bruno’ need to team up and do a buddy movie!
I was going to say “romantic comedy,” but there’s no romance if you’ve only got two tunnels and no train.
LeBlevsez
Bill Hader has the ability to give caricatures some dimension. He’s better at that than most performers. I hope he will reconsider his decision and let Stefon ramble some more.
Creamsicle
Bill Hader is AMAZING in Documentary Now. He does such a wide variety of characters, and they’re all good.
theherald
I’ve never heard any gay person complain about Stefan being offensive. The clubs that he discusses are so absurd and surreal, to call them “gay stereotypes” is silly.
BennyTheHill
Cancel culture is the Left’s hated gift to America.
Now here is some really GREAT news:
New York Times: “Twitter Accepts Elon Musk’s Buyout Offer”
Hey leftists, don’t let your heads explode now, and stay away from open windows. We don’t want you to do anything ill-conceived or foolish.
Trump and other banned conservatives and libertarians will be re-activating their Twitter accounts. This is great. We can’t forget that there are 2 big elections coming up this November and in 2024.
FREE SPEECH PREVAILS!!!
America is beautiful!!!
LOL!!!
Bosch
Hey, what happend to the Dixie Chicks?
Den
It is the stupidest/laziest of trolls who post the exact same text on several different comment sections. Especially humorous is how your post demonstrates you have no idea what the guarantee of free speech in the Bill of Rights actually means. Of course nobody is surprised by that, we know how dull you are.
And really now, you twit, NOBODY cancels with such regularity and petulance as your right wing snowflake buddies!
Den
“Hey, what happend to the Dixie Chicks?”
They took “Dixie” out of their name, and are more successful as an act than ever. “Benny” does not realize that the regressive minded like him are the minority in the US. The right “cancelling” them was a huge boon, as it has been to others in similar situations.
It is incredibly amusing how the right will shriek about “free speech” and then cancel (or try to) those who are ideologically advanced or who support social progress or actual science. They are children really.
BennyTheHill
Denny:
There you go again giving aid and comfort to the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel leftists.
You are a self-hating Jew and very pathetic.
🙁
Den
“You are a self-hating Jew and very pathetic.”
Says the sick little boy who is obviously anti-semitic right wing heterosexual lying scum.
We know what you are, and nobody believes your lies. I’d spit in your traitorous face given the opportunity.
The right hates Jews more than anybody, your Q-anon insanity is based on all the worst antiSemitic tropes, and your idiots like you eat that crap up. You’d send people like me to the ovens given the chance.
Bosch
So the narrative in troll-land is that the left is anti-Semitic?
You just keep getting dumber.
Trash Karen.
BennyTheHell
Bill Hader is the topic; twitter what?
Gurl too bloated this time of month to stay on topic….
Den
Have pity on him. He is very, very dull. Staying on topic is hard for the dullards.
BennyTheHill
Elon Musk BOUGHT Twitter.
HOORAY!!!!!
🙂
Kangol2
Hader was great as Stefon, including in the very first Stefon skit, which preceded the Weekend Update stints. I get his reasoning for not doing it now but I think it would be perfect to do it set in Eric Adams’ New York and have Chris Redd as Adams interact with him. SNL writers, if you’re listening…..
TomG
I do not think the right wing uneducated Trump supporters and repukelicans even watch this show so Hader SHOULD bring the character back just to annoy of them who may watch.
Man About Town
“This club has everything: Lupus, the magazines at Supercuts, a doorman who high-fives children of divorce…”
Heywood Jablowme
I clicked on the Stefon link and now anytime I hear about asbestos or the dreaded disease mesothelioma I’m always going to think “Me so horny-oma”!
TAZnTampa
Without Stefon how are we going to know where the next Dan Cortese sighting will be?