‘SNL’: Daniel Kaluuya Says British Racism Is Bad – Just Like Boston’s

Daniel Kaluuya hosts SNL. (Credit: NBC)

Daniel Kaluuya brought his brand of humor and stellar acting to Saturday Night Live this weekend.

The Ugandan-British actor made his SNL hosting debut and kicked off the night with a monologue about the British royal family, racism and his Oscar-nominated performance in the film Judas and the Black Messiah.

After sharing his excitement about hosting the NBC sketch series, Kaluuya took a jab at the royals.

“I know you’re hearing my accent and thinking ‘oh no, he’s not Black. He’s British.’ Let me reassure you that I am Black. I’m Black and I’m British. Basically, I’m what the royal family was worried the baby would look like,” he said referring to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Archie, and the couple’s bombshell claim that a member of the royal family expressed concerns about Archie’s skin tone because Markle is biracial.

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Kaluuya then shared his thoughts on racism.

“People ask me what’s worse, British racism or American racism? Let me put it this way, British racism is so bad, White people left,” he said to laughter. “They wanted to be free, free to create their own kind of racism — that’s why they invented Australia, South Africa, and Boston.”

The actor then offered a few details about his family, and gave a shoutout to an aunt from Uganda who was in the audience.

He also talked about his Golden Globe Award-winning performance as Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah. But Kaluuya admitted winning a Golden Globe in February was a bit of a letdown because he had to make his acceptance speech via Zoom.

SNL rolled the tape of the actor speaking at the Globes ceremony, which suffered a string of technical glitches, including forgetting to unmute Kaluuya’s microphone.

“I was muted! Can you believe that?” the actor said to the SNL audience.  “I told the best joke of my life and I was muted.”

Watch Kaluuya’s SNL monologue and some of the other sketches below.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.