A Saturday Night Live parody took aim at the pro-Palestine protests that have taken over Columbia University and college campuses across the country.
Keenan Thompson played the father of a Columbia student, who sat with two other “parents,” played by Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner, and cast member Michael Longfellow on the show’s NY1 “Community Affairs” segment.
During the discussion, each parent agreed that they supported the movement, but Thompson, who played Alphonse Roberts, said it wouldn’t be right if his daughter joined the protests.
‘Alexis Vanessa Roberts better have her butt in class. “Let me find out she’s in one of those damn tents instead of the dorm I pay for,” Thompson said.
Mikey Day’s character, Doug Hoving, questioned Thompson, saying, “Wait, I thought you were in favor of student protests?”
SNL’s Keenan Thompson, who played Alphonse Roberts, father of a Columbia University student, expressed his thoughts on the pro-Palestine protests that have taken over campus in recent weeks.
The sketch comes after weeks of unrest at the Ivy League, which began with the establishment of the camp on April 17 (pictured: protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday afternoon).
‘Brother, I support your children protesting, not mine. “My kids know that Alexis Vanessa is not crazy,” Thompson responded.
The sketch comes after weeks of unrest at the Ivy League, which began with the establishment of the camp on April 17.
Protesters set up tents after the school’s president, Minouche Shafik, was questioned before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus.
After protests broke out at Columbia, they soon spread across the country at other schools, including Emory, the University of Texas, Harvard, NYU, USC, UC Berkeley, and Brown.
As the play continued, cast members were asked how they felt about the police presence on campus.
While Gardner’s character Sarah Himes said she was “very worried” about her daughter’s arrest, Thompson’s character said “I’m not worried about the 5-0.”
‘That’s none of my business. My business is Alexis Vanessa Robert,’ she said.
He proceeded to emphasize the expensive tuition prices at Columbia.
“She’s not talking about ‘free this, free that,’ because I’ll tell you what’s not free, Columbia.”
He asked, “Does everyone know that they had the nerve to want $68,000 a year?”
Day then responded to Thompson, saying, “Look, we totally respect your right to protest, but I mean, we’re also making sacrifices for our kids.”
While Gardner’s character Sarah Himes said she was “very worried” about her daughter’s arrest, Thompson’s character said “I’m not worried about the 5-0.”
The student protesters set up tents on the campus lawn and created an encampment to protest the war between Israel and Hamas.
Police use a vehicle called ‘The Bear’ to enter Hamilton Hall from a public street, which was occupied by protesters, as other officers enter the Columbia University campus.
“Yeah, I’m here busting my hump to pay all that tuition,” explained Thompson’s character, an Uber driver.
On Tuesday, shafik called on NYPD to ‘restore order and security’ on campus amid escalating protests, which also included a mass encampment on the school lawn.
Protesters at Columbia University broke windows, overturned furniture, and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during the occupation before police stormed the campus and arrested more than 100 protesters.
About 40 protesters were arrested on the first floor of the building after police stormed in shortly after 9 p.m., ending the pro-Palestinian encampment that spanned nearly two weeks and included students taking over the hall.
Photographs and videos taken after the event showed the destroyed interior of the room, covered with the activists’ belongings.
The raid arrested protesters across campus and at nearby City College of New York, where similar protests took place.
Police broke into Hamilton Hall through an upstairs window after students used furniture to block the entrance.
Images showed how chairs and desks had been turned over to become makeshift barriers. The cost of damage to the building is likely to run into the thousands of dollars.
After two weeks of chaos, in which classes were moved online and facilities were closed, Shafik finally called the police, who managed to clear the campus in just two hours.
University administrators have now asked police to maintain a presence until May 17, two days after graduation.
The NYPD announced that they had cleared the building shortly before 11 p.m. with no injuries.
Hours earlier, video showed police in riot gear descending on the campus armed with lockable handcuffs and pepper spray.
Protesters at Columbia University broke windows, overturned furniture, and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall amid their brief occupation.
James Carlson, who also goes by the names Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was arrested by the NYPD and charged with theft and criminal trespass after breaking into Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and renaming it ‘Hind’ Hall.
Until Tuesday, Shafik had refrained from calling on police to intervene following the backlash over the decision to use law enforcement to disperse an earlier encampment.
However, the decision to call the NYPD was made after increasingly violent tactics and concerns that the protest had been infiltrated by “outside agitators” with no ties to the university.
On Saturday, the leader of the Columbia protests was unmasked as the 40-year-old son of millionaire advertising executives who lives in a four-story house in Brooklyn.
James Carlson, who also goes by the names Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was arrested by the NYPD and charged with theft and criminal trespass after breaking into Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and renaming it ‘Hind’ Hall.
James is the son of Richard Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow, a millionaire advertising duo who founded Carlson & Partners together and were known for their cosmetics and fashion clients, including Revlon, Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren and Neutrogena.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brooklyn Law School and later became an animal rights attorney serving in the US District Court in 2013.
He also had a brief stint as an undercover investigator at factory farms and slaughterhouses that recorded animal abuse, according to the publication.
James is believed to be married to model Kim Heyrman and has two children while living in a $3.4 million Brooklyn brownstone in New York.
James is suspected of burning an Israeli flag during a demonstration three days ago and is believed to have “previously been involved in the recent blockade of bridges and tunnels,” according to NBC News.