SNL’s Melanie Hutsell was “horrified” by the fake nose in the Blossom sketch

Mayim Bialik recently thought about a Saturday Night Live sketch that depicted her iconic character Blossom with a large prosthetic nose – and now the actress who played her is responding to her comments.

Melanie Hutsell, who parodied Bialik’s sitcom title character in a 1994 sketch, issued a statement to EW expressing regret over the incident. “When we were preparing to do this sketch all those years ago, I was absolutely horrified that they wanted me to wear a prosthetic nose to play Mayim Bialik’s character Blossom. I knew it was wrong,” says Hutsell.

She once said she shared her concerns with her colleagues SNLShe felt like her job was at stake. “I distinctly remember that when I expressed that I didn’t want to wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch, I was told that I would be fired if I refused,” says Hutsell. “And remember that many of the people involved in creating the sketch were Jewish. Although I had and always had a strong moral compass, I didn’t have the strength to refuse the sketch after I was told. “I would be fired.

The actress says she wishes she had responded differently to the threat. “If I could go back and change history, I would have refused to wear the prosthetic nose and risked losing my job,” Hutsell says. “That would have been the right thing to do.”

Representative for SNL did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

In Bialik’s essay it is Danger The presenter said she felt “ashamed” after the skit, adding: “Girls all over the world used to tell me that they had never seen a Jewish girl like me on TV before they saw me.” blossom. Many said they knew I was Jewish and that made them proud. That touched me so much, and it still does… I wonder how those girls felt when they saw an actress playing me with a weird prosthetic nose.

In her statement, Hutsell also recalled an encounter with Bialik a decade later that allowed her to apologize for the skit. “The whole situation haunted me for years, but fortunately, at an audition about ten years after the fact, I had the opportunity to look Mayim in the eyes and apologize for what I had done, to which she replied, ‘I leave set you free!’ “I took that to mean that she accepted my apology, and that meant more to me than she would ever know,” she says. “Given that I married someone who is Jewish and have two children who are Jewish, the idea that I caused pain to a fellow actor who was a teenager at the time is not something I’m proud of.” But I had to forgive myself.” ”

Hutsell also clarifies that she has publicly expressed her remorse in the past, including in a podcast episode released in July. “A good year ago I did an interview with SNL Colleagues Dana Carvey and David Spade in their podcast, Fly on the wall“, she says. “If the blossom When the sketch came up, like in many other interviews, I took the opportunity to express my sincere regret, as it is something I have since grappled with.

In the podcast episode, Hutsell described the nose as “so offensive” and went into more detail about her encounter with Bialik. “We were sitting on a couch together and she hadn’t looked up from her script,” Hutsell said in the episode. The SNL The star recalled tearfully telling the actress, “Hey, I just want to tell you something… I pretended to be you in the episode.” Saturday Night Live. I wasn’t happy about certain things and I just want to apologize to you and say I’m sorry.” Hutsell said on the podcast that Bialik then responded, “I’m releasing you! … I’m not going to say that.’ I didn’t feel that at the time … but you know, we can let that go.”

“I think Mayim is one of the smartest and most incredible people on the planet – beautiful inside and out,” Hutsell concludes in her statement to EW.

You can listen to the whole thing Fly on the wall Podcast episode below.

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