A Case Study of Visibility, Diversity, and Inclusion: 'Live from New York!' An Analysis of the Chinese Hosts on Saturday Night Live

With a runtime of 47 years, Saturday Night Live has long served as a societal mirror that captures and creates popular culture. In recent years the show has been criticized for its lack of diverse hosts, cast and staff. Out of 930 episodes only seven episodes have been hosted by an Asian host, four of whom identify as Chinese. This research examined those four episodes through quantitative analysis, finding that the qualities of each of the hosts' characters range from just below neutral to moderately positive. The use of stereotypes and satirical racial humor varied. Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu's episodes had the highest concentration of both overt and covert stereotypes, while Awkwafina had a similar number with a lower concentration. The infrequency of Chinese representation on the show is a social issue. Such a small sample size does not allow for conclusions to be drawn. Rather, this research paints a picture of how the four Chinese hosts are portrayed on SNL as influenced by their own unique identities and the year of their appearance. In addition, the insights this case study offers has implications for shows performed in colleges and K-12 schools. Directors and sponsors of school based shows can learn from this case study how to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and how to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at their institutions.