Saoirse Ronan Defends Controversial ‘SNL’ Sketch: ‘The Show Is a Comedy’ — Watch

Saoirse Ronan’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend was well received, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Some back home were unimpressed with a sketch in which the Irish actress plays an Aer Lingus flight attendant, regarding the bit — which featured heavy accents, several references to potatoes, and lots and lots of dogs — as relying too much on stereotypes. During an appearance on “The Late Late Show,” the “Lady Bird” star responded.

“It’s fun, and it was — the show is a comedy show,” she said when asked about the minor uproar. “One of the things that was really, really important for me throughout the week and Lorne Michaels, the creator of the show, there’s numerous meetings that you have throughout the week, there’s sketches being added all the time. Whenever he would ask me what do I want or what do I feel strongly about, I would always say, ‘I really want to use my own accent as much as possible and I want there to be at least one Irish sketch in there.”

“I am not anti–Aer Lingus!” she laughed. “I collect my points on Aer Lingus — that’s how often I fly Aer Lingus…it was so much fun to be able to kind of represent, you know with myself and the boys [U2], it was brilliant.” Watch her full comments below.