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ā€˜SNLā€™sā€™ Latina Cast Member Controversy: Melissa VillaseƱor Deleted Racist Tweets

The comedian erased almost 2,000 tweets from her profile.
Melissa VillaseƱor
YouTube

Saturday Night Live’s” first Latina cast member, Melissa Villaseñor, stirred up controversy for deleting almost 2,000 tweets, which include some that many critics are calling racist. Writer Aura Bogado first noticed the removal of many tweets in less than a week and called the situation “odd.”

https://twitter.com/aurabogado/status/777194062906429440

READ MORE: Taran Killam & Jay Pharoah Leave ‘Saturday Night Live’ After 6 Seasons

Upon doing more research, she and various other users, including writer April Reign, also noticed that many of Villaseñor’s since-deleted tweets targeted people of color and included racist statements. It appears that Villaseñor had set her account to private before the announcement of her joining “SNL,” which gave her time to remove her tweets from her account.  Despite this action, diligent people still were able to find several tweets that she had missed like the ones below before she could delete those also. 

READ MORE: ‘Saturday Night Live’: How the Sets for TV’s Craziest Sketch Comedy (Camels, Airplanes and Crooning Clintons!) Are Built Overnight

Last year, “SNL” faced a similar situation when former member Jon Rudnitsky was criticized for his sexist and homophobic tweets and was ultimately not invited back for another season.

At this time, both “SNL” and Villaseñor have declined to officially comment on the controversy and criticism towards the comedian. She has yet to tweet anything since September 13, aside from replying “thank you pals” to the “Jackie and Laurie Show” a couple days later. 

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