Harry Styles on Saturday Night Live. (Screenshot)
Harry Styles – the sexually ambiguous lesbian icon, also a British singer – made his Saturday Night Live debut last night.
Several aspects of this are deserving of their own write up. The outfits. Releasing a single, ‘Watermelon Sugar’, from his second album – while hosting SNL. The One Direction jokes. Those yellow flares.
But genuinely, the most refreshing part was watching Styles play a gay character – a millennial social-media intern, no less, hauled in front of his bosses for some “off message” account activity – and realising that the jokes were not about the character being gay.
Sara Lee’s Instagram activity has been a little…𝘰𝘧𝘧-𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦. #HarryOnSNL pic.twitter.com/jBjZ0vYbtC
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 17, 2019
Styles said several things during the sketch, which saw him play the Instagram manager for Sarah Lee Desserts, that destroyed the queer internet.
“For example, why did Sara Lee comment on this picture of Nick Jonas saying, ‘Wreck me, daddy’?” Styles is asked.
to whichever gay former theatre kid snl intern gave us harry styles in newsboy attire complete with newsboy accent and charms… thank you
— katie🌹 (@gothsuburbanmom) November 17, 2019
Hearing @Harry_Styles say “wreck me daddy” and talking about poppers on SNL is gay rights. #HarryOnSNL
— Sam. (@sam_steiber) November 17, 2019
Admitting to mixing up his personal Instagram account with the Sara Lee account, Styles goes on to explain what it had meant to comment three aubergine emojis, a water droplet emoji, a train emoji and the ghost emoji on a picture from a young guy’s account that has less than 200 followers.
That’s a reference to “getting railed to death, yes,” Styles said.
harry styles saying “getting railed to death” and “poppers high” just gave every fag rights
— freddie mercury (@roserozzrose) November 17, 2019
That Sara Lee gay Instagram sketch on SNL with Harry Styles was the gay representation we all deserve. #SNL
— Benjamin Rauhala (@brauhala) November 17, 2019
He’s then told that the lack of replies to these comments are really bad for the brand. “Nick Jonas not replying to Sarah Lee? Okay. But some random fashion twink?”
Styles is also grilled on whether there are typos in the caption of a sandwich, which should have been about Sara Lee’s range of food but instead were about feeling sad after a threesome.
“I don’t think so?” he says, adding: “But Sarah Lee wrote those at four in the morning while he was still on a poppers high.”
i’m still trying to process how snl got harry styles to portray a sara lee social media handler that wants to “get railed to death” by some internet twink on instagram because that was wild pic.twitter.com/A4wlPpxaaM
— sara (@thisbemesara) November 17, 2019
Styles reads out the next caption: “A little moody after being used. Why do guys freak out when I ask them to spit in my mouth? Need a real king that can handle. It’s 8am and have to go to hell job at Sara Lee. A little in my head after another threesome.”
The “queer nonsense” Styles spouted on SNL was funny. But the jokes weren’t at the expense of gay men. Perhaps certain other comedians should take notes.
Harry’s face when he said, “Getting railed to death, yeah,” and referencing poppers, threesomes, sexting, stan culture etc. Y’all actually I’m deddd! Harry Styles playing a gay character on #SNL where the character’s sexuality isn’t the joke! #HarryOnSNL #HarryStylesOnSNL pic.twitter.com/IJ3JRepubG
— Delia Harrington (@DeliaMary) November 17, 2019