As one of the stars of , , famous, and she . On top of that, many The Big Bang Theory fans have followed .
Ever since began, celebrity impersonations have been a big part of the show. Since Bialik has been a big star for years, she was the subject of one of those impersonations. Sadly, however, an SNL star had their career threatened if she refused to impersonate Bialik.
In October 2023, the fact that a teenaged Mayim Bialik was once parodied on Saturday Night Live was in the spotlight. The reason for that is that Bialik herself drew attention to the offensively big and fake nose the actor who impersonated her wore for the segment.
Once renewed attention was paid to SNL's treatment of Bialik, the cast member who portrayed the former Blossom star spoke out. An onscreen SNL performer from 1991 until 1994, Melanie Hutsell was the actor who was cast as a young Bialik.
, according to Britannica?
Hutsell offered a statement to Entertainment Weekly about her portrayal of Bialik. According to Hutsell, she recognized that wearing a fake nose to portray Bialik was antisemitic and wrong and spoke to her SNL bosses about it. Hutsell claims that SNL's bigwigs responded to her complaints about the fake nose by
.
"I remember so clearly that when I expressed that I did not want to wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch, I was told if I refused, I would be fired. And keep in mind, many of the people who had a hand in creating the sketch were Jewish. Although I had and have always had a strong moral compass, I didn't have the strength to refuse to do the sketch after I was told I would be fired. If I could go back and change history, I would have refused to wear the prosthetic nose and taken the risk of losing my job."
Hutsell also claimed that she apologized to Bialik for her portrayal of her many years before the segment received renewed attention.
"The whole situation haunted me for years, but thankfully I had an opportunity at an audition about ten years after the fact to look Mayim in the eye and apologize for what I did, to which she responded, 'I release you!' I took that to mean that she accepted my apology and that meant more to me than she will ever know."
Once EW received Hutsell's statement, they reached out to Saturday Night Live for comment and didn't receive anything by the time they published. After EW published their piece about Hutsell's statement,
in a post she published on Instagram.
"Thank you Melanie Hutsell for this - I did not intend to disparage you or SNL and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness around this! It made for an interesting essay (which I was asked to write many months ago on the topic of antisemitism) and with everything going on in the world, I’m virtually hugging you and appreciate you very much!"
In October 2023, the subject of antisemitism, tragically, was all over the news. In that environment, Bialik wrote a piece for Variety in which she reflected on her experiences as a Jewish woman in the public eye.
More specifically, Bialik wrote about how the media and people in Hollywood treated her because of the size of her nose. Early on in her article, Bialik revealed that she had a great deal of difficulty getting leading roles early in her career because of the way she looked.
Eventually, Bialik got her big break when she landed the titular role in the popular sitcom Blossom. Thanks to that show's popularity, Blossom and Bialik became the butt of jokes, but that comes with the job. As Bialik revealed in her piece, Mad Magazine mocked her which made her cry, but her father offered her some perspective that lessened the sting.
"Mid-“Blossom” run, MAD magazine did a parody of our show. I was scared to look at it at first, since I had grown up reading MAD’s parodies, and I knew how brutal they could be with their parodies of mainstream pop culture. In true MAD fashion, they mocked every single thing about both me and our entire show. I cried a little as I looked at it, but my father reminded me that parody is the sincerest form of flattery next to imitation."
After Mad Magazine parodied Blossom, Saturday Night Live decided to do the same thing.
In theory, that fact was complimentary, as Bialik wrote in her article.
"And then a short time later, it was “Saturday Night Live’s” turn. In the ‘90s, you had really “made it” if “SNL” parodied your show. It meant you were a significant enough part of culture to merit that kind of mockery, and as an “SNL” fan for my entire life, I was so excited."
Unfortunately for Bialik, any excitement she felt about being parodied by SNL went away once she saw the segment. The reason for that is Bialik was mocked for the size of her nose and she felt ashamed of that.
, according to Buzzfeed.
Colin FarrellAnderson CooperBritney SpearsDan CrenshawNeil deGrasse TysonBarbara WaltersKathie Lee GiffordDonatella VersaceBialik also revealed in the piece she wrote that her feelings were especially hurt by her SNL portrayal because none of her Blossom co-stars were mocked for their looks.
"The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious. But. She wore a prosthetic nose. In order to truly convey that she was “Blossom,” she wore a fake, big nose. I don’t know if it was significantly larger than my real nose and I don’t care to remember.
I remember that it struck me as odd. And it confused me. No one else on the show was parodied for their features. In MAD magazine, everyone is caricatured, but in this rendition of parody, it was just me that was singled out. More specifically, it was my nose. I never thought to talk about it and mostly I tried to forget it. I hoped no one noticed. All of my friends at high school watched “SNL.” It wasn’t subtle. They would all see it and I felt ashamed."
