Overview
- On her daytime show, Shepherd called the absence of Black women on SNL an “emergency” and urged the series to “hurry up” to find a replacement.
- With Ego Nwodim gone, SNL’s current on‑air roster includes no Black female cast member for the first time since 2014.
- Nwodim left less than a month before the season 51 premiere after seven seasons, framing her departure as a career move and thanking Lorne Michaels and colleagues.
- SNL had already added five season 51 cast members — Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska — leaving no Black woman among the new hires.
- Recent staff additions include Black talent such as cast member Kam Patterson and writers Jo Sunday and Rachel Pegram, as Shepherd cited past sketches where male performers portrayed Black women to stress why authentic representation matters.