Indian outtakes in Saturday Night Live

On 10/17/09, Saturday Night Live aired some outtakes from past dress rehearsals. Two of them featured Indians:

In "Riding a Donkey Political Talk Show," pundits discuss the day's issues while riding donkeys. If that weren't silly enough, arrows suddenly crisscross the room and the participants shout "Indian attack!"

In "Casino," three "Mohawk" men in suits and black hair in braids discuss their casino at a blackjack table. They talk like Tonto, utter Indian clichés, and make Indian-style gestures. Apparently the humor comes from seeing "primitive" people talk about modern things such as gaming commissions.

Both skits, especially the second one, are arguably racist. I don't recall the last time SNL showed Africans in grass skirts or Latinos in sombreros, but these skits are equivalent to that.

If SNL's people were smart, they would've canceled these skits after rehearsal. That they broadcast the skits now suggests they didn't and don't see anything wrong with them.

I don't recall seeing either skit when it originally aired, but I haven't seen every SNL. The other outtakes were of skits that eventually aired, so I'm guessing these skits aired too.

For more on Saturday Night Live, see Mohicans in Saturday Night Live and Palin Rap Features "Eskimos." For more on the subject in general, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.