The sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live comes under fire amid accusations of plagiarism. On Saturday night, the show returned to NBC with the 48th season premiere. Miles Counter (Top Gun: Maverick) made his hosting debut in the episode while Kendrick Lamar was the musical guest. Jon Hamm and Shaun White also made special appearances in the cold open segment to help kick off the new season.
But the night was not flawless, given the controversy that accompanied one particular sketch. In the segment, the SNL cast members portray the animated blue and white bears from Charmin’s toilet paper commercials. Teller candidly tells his bear relatives (played by Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner and Punkie Johnson) about how he found a new passion in life, hoping to become a dancer. His family disapproves and reminds the bear that their only purpose in life is to sell Charmin toilet paper.
Watch the sketch below.
Some viewers thought the sketch was funny, but is it an original idea? Per PopCulture.com, there have been some fans who cried foul over the sketch by suggesting the concept was taken from another video. Notably, filmmaker Joel Haver uploaded a similar video to YouTube in July. In this video, a Charmin bear’s son informs his father that he has found a new passion in musical theater. Although animated and much shorter than the SNL version, the similarities between the sketches are seen as uncanny by some viewers who feel it’s too much to be a coincidence.
See for yourself by checking out this version below, compared to the SNL sketch.
From now on none of SNL neither Haver has publicly commented on the alleged plagiarism.
Joel Haver fans are not happy
Fans of Joel Haver quickly remembered the filmmaker’s Charmin sketch after seeing the SNL Saturday night version. Some criticize SNL in a threat on reddit dedicated to calling out the alleged plagiarism while defending Haver.
“I’ve only seen the tail end of a sketch on tonight’s episode of SNL, but the general premise was Charmin/toilet paper bear mascots, one of them realized there’s more to life than wiping his ass – he wants to make art! . .. Looks familiar to me,” wrote one fan.
“I literally joined this sub now to see if anyone caught them stealing the toilet paper bear sketch,” another Redditor commented.
Someone else commented: “Totally stolen. And SNL has a long track record of stealing sketches so I never give them the benefit of the doubt with this stuff. Unreal.”