Ego Nwodim On SNL Exit & Hopes For More Black Women In Cast

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I was really surprised to hear about Ego Nwodim leaving Saturday Night Live. She’s so talented! It made me think about how few Black women have actually been cast members over the years. It’s amazing to consider that, throughout the show’s history, there have only been eight – Ego, Maya Rudolph, Sasheer Zamata, Leslie Jones, Punkie Johnson, Yvonne Hudson, Danitra Vance, and Ellen Cleghorne. I truly hope SNL continues to create opportunities for diverse voices in the future.

Nwodim’s exit means there are no Black women in the current cast.

This week, Sarah Sherman appeared on the show Sherri and talked about her experience on Saturday Night Live. She told Variety that while she didn’t fully grasp the importance of her casting for representation, she was proud to be one of only seven Black women to ever be a cast member on SNL (two years later, Devon Walker Jr. joined her).

The former Saturday Night Live cast member played many different characters. She felt that sometimes the subtle details of her performances weren’t noticed, but she ultimately felt proud of her work, and that meant a lot to her.

I recently heard from Ego Nwodim about her decision to leave Saturday Night Live, and she explained it beautifully. She felt like 2025 was the right moment to move on and start a fresh chapter. She actually compared her time on the show to a long-term relationship – her longest, in fact! – and now she’s ready to explore other opportunities, essentially ‘date around’ when it comes to her career. It sounds like she’s incredibly grateful for her time there, but excited about what’s next.

As a longtime fan of Saturday Night Live, I was really interested to hear what cast member Sarah Sherman had to say recently. She pointed out that the show could really benefit from more diversity, specifically hoping to see more Black women join the cast. It just feels like that perspective is missing right now, and she’s absolutely right – it would make the show even stronger.

It wasn’t about pressure, but a real honor to be one of the seventh Black women on the show. I’m excited to see even more Black women join in the future. Punkie Johnson joined after me, and I’m curious to see who else they’ll discover as they continue to look for talented people.

I’ve played many different kinds of characters, and while some people may not have noticed, it was really important to me that I had the opportunity to do so.

It felt a lot like being married. I’ve never been married myself, but working on that show was the longest I’ve ever stayed with one thing. I don’t avoid commitment, but I’ve heard about the ‘seven-year itch’ in marriage, and I realized I wanted to explore other options. I wanted to see what else was out there and felt it was time to move on to something new.

Saturday Night Live’s 51st season isn’t the first time the show has faced criticism for a lack of Black women in its cast. Over a decade ago, SNL received similar backlash, which led showrunner Lorne Michaels to hire comedian Sam Jay in 2014.

I remember when Sarah Jones started at SNL – she came on as a writer, and I quickly noticed her popping up in sketches! People really loved her, and it wasn’t long before she officially became a cast member. It was awesome to watch her grow!

As a long-time fan, I remember how frustrating it was to see a lack of Black women on SNL. After Maya Rudolph left in 2007, the show went years without another Black female cast member. It’s happened before too – in the 80s and 90s, we had short stints with people like Judy Hudson in ’80-’81, Ellen Vance in ’85-’86, and then Gailen Cleghorne who was on for a few seasons from ’91 to ’95, but then those roles disappeared again for a while.

The latest season of Saturday Night Live added five new cast members: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska. Of these new hires, only Kam Patterson is Black, and Veronika Slowikowska is the sole woman.

The new cast members aren’t Black women, which is a step backward for SNL, reminiscent of the issues they had before Zendaya. With many media companies recently reducing their diversity initiatives, it’s unlikely NBC will address this lack of representation soon, unless public or political pressure increases in the future.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:29 p.m. EST on NBC.

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2025-11-06 02:11