Regina King is joining the list of stellar Black women to host Saturday Night Live!
King announced the news via her Twitter page saying, “From #OneNightinMiami to one night live from New York! Pinching myself. Let’s Go! @NRateliff @nbcsnl.”
The famous hosting gig has a long-running list of A-list celebrity features, with only a handful of them being Black women. To date, of SNL’s 880 episodes, 51 Black people have hosted the show, and out of those 51 people, only 13 were Black women.
From the first-ever Black woman host to grace the SNL stage in 1979, Cicely Tyson, to Janet Jackson, and more, King joins the dynamic, yet small fraction of Black women to add diversity to the show’s hosting lineup.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 11 — Pictured: Cicely Tyson on February 10, 1979 — (Photo by: Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
While the show has made some strides in representation, it still has far to go. It wasn’t until 2017 that the comedic late-night sketch show featured it’s first Black woman COMEDIAN host when Tiffany Haddish led the show.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 1730 — Pictured: Host Tiffany Haddish during the Opening Monologue in Studio 8H on Saturday, November 11, 2017 — (Photo by: Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
SNL host Kerry Washington even did a sketch on the show’s lack of diversity during one of her monologues.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Kerry Washington” Episode 1646 — Pictured: Kerry Washington — (Photo by: Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Although King is making her hosting debut on the show, she’s no stranger to bringing the laughs as a host. Who can forget when she hosted Black Girls Rock alongside Tracee Ellis Ross and gave a spot-on impersonation of Angela Bassett walking away from a burning car in the iconic Waiting to Exhale scene. The actress has proven that her talent goes far beyond just acting on the screen. She has the personality and wit to light up any stage.
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 13: Tracee Ellis Ross (L) and Regina King speak onstage at BET’s Black Girls Rock 2012 at Paradise Theater on October 13, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET)
The Academy Award and four-time Emmy Award-winning actress has been busy. She made her directorial debut in the 2021 film One Night in Miami, People magazine voted her as one of their 2020 People of the Year, and she won her fourth Emmy in 2020 for Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her role in Watchmen.
Now, King can add her name to the list of Black women who have hosted the long-running show.
SNL announced that season 46 of the show is slated to premiere on January 30. Musical guest Nathaniel Rateliff will make his premiere on the show as well, co-hosting with the actress. King and Rateliff will host the show on February 13.
Check out the full list of Black women who have hosted Saturday Night Live!
Like TV One on Facebook and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
