Cecily Strong’s Goober the Clown makes a powerful abortion statement on ‘SNL’

BY CHRISTI CARRAS, STAFF WRITER
NOV. 8, 2021

One of the most rousing and far-reaching rebukes of Texas’ controversial abortion law was delivered Saturday by a woman dressed as a circus clown.

In a viral segment, “Saturday Night Live” cast member Cecily Strong appeared as the character Goober the Clown on the latest installment of “Weekend Update” to comment on Senate Bill 8, which denies people the right to an abortion by making it illegal for doctors to end a pregnancy after about six weeks.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-11-08/cecily-strong-snl-weekend-update-clown-abortion

How comedy is speaking up about abortion

How comedy is speaking up about abortion
It remains a contentious and emotive issue – but, despite opposition, comedians are determined to break taboos and speak their minds, writes Alice Jones.

By Alice Jones
22 August 2019

Comedy has a long and noble history of busting taboos but is every subject fair game for humour or are some too serious to joke about? What about abortion, for example?

In 2019, it remains a contentious and emotive issue: a YouGov-Cambridge Globalism survey in May found that 46 per cent of US citizens thought abortion was unacceptable (in the same poll, only 17% of British people said abortion was unacceptable). Beliefs aside, it has the potential to be a traumatic topic for some who have undergone the procedure.

Continued: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190821-how-comedy-is-speaking-up-about-abortion