After starring in a Saturday Night Live sketch about your favorite hippo’s favorite hippo, Bowen Yang is over fans misinterpreting his jokes.
In an expired Instagram Story posted on Sunday (Sept. 29), Yang responded to a headline from Variety saying that his appearance as Moo Deng on Weekend Update was meant to “mock” pop star Chappell Roan. “oh geez. ‘mocks’???” he wrote. “if my personal stance and the piece aren’t absolutely clear in terms of supporting her then there it is i guess.”
In the sketch, Yang played the baby pygmy hippopotamus from Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand who has taken the internet by storm over the last few weeks. Equating Moo Deng’s rapid rise to fame with Chappell Roan’s, Yang’s Moo Deng paraphrased some of Roan‘s comments about the way fans have treated her since she blew up over the summer. “The response has been overwhelming, but it has come to the point that I have to set some boundaries,” Yang joked. “Women owe you nothing. When I’m in my enclosure, tripping over stuff, biting my trainer’s knee, I am at work. That is the project. Do not yell my name or expect a photo just because I’m your parasocial bestie or because you appreciate my talent.”
Some fans of Roan began criticizing Yang’s performance online, claiming that the comedian was making light of Chappell’s calls for her fans to stop harassing her in public. Some even pointed to an interview Yang recently conducted with the pop star for Interview magazine, claiming that his comments seemed hypocritical in hindsight given the nature of his SNL performance.
In his statement, Yang made it clear that he continues to support Roan and her calls for less toxic behavior from her fans, and that the sketch was meant to highlight that support. “everything she has ever asked for has been reasonable and even then we can connect it to another story about boundaries or whatever,” he wrote, before calling up a joke from his Moo Deng sketch. “needing the hose rn…”
The news comes after Roan canceled her performances for Saturday (Sept. 28) and Sunday (Sept. 29) at All Things Go in New York and Washington, D.C. In her statement, Roan said that while she wanted to perform, she needed to focus on her well-being. “Things have gotten overwhelming over the past few weeks and I am really feeling it,” she wrote. “I feel pressures to prioritize a lot of things right now and I need a few days to prioritize my health. I want to be present when I perform and give the best shows possible.”
Watch Bowen Yang’s full performance as Moo Deng below:
