Comic Slams Alec Baldwin's Embarrassing Defense of SNL's Lack of Gay Casting

Since Saturday Night Live premiered in 1975 there have been more than 150 cast members, only two of whom were openly gay. Current cast member, and arguably the show's MVP, Kate McKinnon was an out lesbian well before she auditioned for the long-running sketch show -- but there has not been an openly gay man in the cast in 32 years. The only out gay man to ever appear on the show was Terry Sweeney in the 1985-86 season.

Recently, out comedian James Adomian told The Daily Beast that he believes SNL creator Lorne Michaels is afraid to cast gay men. Frequent SNL host and current Donald Trump portrayer Alec Baldwin got involved and responded with a string of snarky tweets that proved Adomian's point that SNL has ultimately failed when it comes to gay representation.

In his interview withThe Daily Beast, Adomian -- known for his spot-on impressions of Bernie Sanders, Sebastian Gorka, Elon Musk, and Ted Cruz, to name a few -- said of Michaels, "I think that Lorne Michaels is afraid of America's dads," then impersonated a cisgender straight guy and said, "I'm not gonna let my kid watch a show with a gay man."

Baldwin started a Twitter controversy by retweeting the Daily Beast article with the caption, "My dream is to, one day, be as gifted, as brave, as all-knowing as [link to the interview]."

That's when Twitter users pressed Baldwin about his sarcastic tweet. When one Twitter user laid out the ridiculously low number of SNL's LGBT cast members querying whether Michaels had a problem with gay men, Baldwin shot back with a dig at Adomian, who auditioned for SNL 13 years ago.

Adomian isn't the only one to accuse Michaels of steering clear of hiring gay men. The creator and star of Comedy Central's Corporate, Jake Weisman, backed up Adomian's assertion and flatly said Adomian wasn't cast on SNL "Because he's gay. Because they're bigoted."

Still, Baldwin protected Michaels even as he dug a hole for himself. The host of Talk Show the Game Show, Guy Branum, shot back at Baldwin, challenging him to name gay men SNL has hired.

Baldwin responded with an ignorant tweet that Branum seized on as proof positive of a discouraging, systemic lack of representation on SNL.

Branum didn't stop there. He ended by calling out Baldwin's complete unwillingness to admit to see past his straight privilege and notice that there is a disparity in SNL's casting.