It must have been a bit embarrassing for Kanye West when the “Gold Digger” rapper was escorted from Skechers HQ last week, and to make matters worse, the situation became Saturday Night Live. As has been reported, West showed up unannounced in hopes of partnering with the shoe company after a spat with ADIDAS amid a flurry of controversial remarks and allegations of anti-Semitism. Skechers execs had security escort West out of the building without meeting and released a statement announcing that they refuse to cooperate with the mogul.
a new SNL sketch envisions a Skechers commercial making the best of the bizarre situation. It features the SNL cast members play various employees of the company and explain what happened to Kanye. They’re essentially bragging about how awesome they must be if they’re the ones Kanye chose to come see after his ADIDAS split.
“Like the rest of the country, we were shocked by Kanye’s horrific comments, and we swore never to work with him in any capacity,” said Cecily Strong as a Skechers representative. “But can we also point out that of all the companies he could have approached and turned down, he? chose Skechers!”
Chloe Fineman, Senior Sales VP, added: “Kanye came to Skechers and Skechers said no. Do you realize how insanely satisfying that is?”
Bowen Yang played another Skechers employee and emphasized how strange it is for the company to turn down West. Even two years ago, when baggage was still attached to the controversial rapper, but not to the same extent, that would never have happened, Yang argues.
“Two years ago, could you have come up with the headline, ‘Skechers too good for Kanye’?” he says bewildered.
The various employees spend the rest of the ad bragging about sending Kanye away, but not before imagining what a shoe he’d developed for the company would look like, only to lament that they can’t work together now. The promo ends with a performance by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell (James Austin Johnson) announcing a new partnership with Ye, as not many other business leaders will want to get involved in the mounting controversy West has generated.
Kanye West turned heads when he was on SNL
Ye has appeared on SNL on many occasions before, although he managed to trigger some backlash when he appeared in 2018. For the show’s mostly left-wing audience, West delivered a pro-Donald Trump rant on the air while wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap. He was reported to have made some cast members uncomfortable and criticized some on social media. He has not appeared as a musical guest since then.
After Ye’s estranged wife Kim Kardashian hosted the show, she began a relationship with longtime cast member Pete Davidson. That also led to a feud between Ye and Davidson. While Davidson has left SNL for the current season, there’s a good chance West won’t be back on the show anytime soon.