Chloe Fineman Under Fire For “Mocking” JoJo Siwa In ‘SNL’ Parody: “This Is Trying Way Too Hard”

Was making fun of JoJo a no no? JoJo Siwa was the subject of a Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update bit last weekend (May 4), in which Chloe Fineman portrayed the former Dance Moms star alongside Colin Jost.

The sketch targeted Siwa’s recent “bad girl” transformation in the public eye. In the sketch, Fineman donned an outfit resembling that of what Siwa wears in her “Karma” music video and what she sported to the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March.

Following a bold entrance set to Siwa’s new single, Fineman exclaimed, “That’s right Colin; I’m a bad girl now!” per The Independent.

After Jost brought up her “different look,” Fineman deemed her new appearance “a pretty big change.”

“I used to be rainbow sparkles, and now I’m black sparkles!” she quipped.

During the sketch, Fineman poked fun at Siwa’s former public persona when asked how old she was, teasing, “From 2011 to 2023, I was 8.”

“But now, I’m 20 and gay!” she continued. “I’m the first gay girl in the world! Bet you never met a gay girl before.”

Saturday night’s segment also touched on Siwa making headlines for telling Billboard that she invented the genre of “gay pop,” per Variety. She has since walked that remark back, telling Sirius XM’s Hits 1 Miami with Mack & Jen that gay pop “should be a literal genre of music.” Siwa came out as gay in 2021.

While praise has circulated for the bit online, Fineman’s portrayal of Siwa has also sparked some backlash from critics. Some deemed the sketch “cringey” and claimed it was “trying way too hard.” Others were bothered by the fact that the show was going after Siwa, who is only 20 years old.

“40 year old mocking a young adult on a corny show,” one wrote.

Another commented on the way Fineman spoke during the sketch.

“Oh so it’s funny to make fun of people with speech impediments?” someone wrote. “Snl hasn’t been funny in such a long time and this is a big example.”

Someone else echoed this sentiment by saying, “I think they could’ve poked fun without the speech impediment.”

Meanwhile, another expressed sympathy for Siwa, noting that they “feel like people are overly mean about her.”

Nonetheless, Siwa didn’t seem to be as bothered by the skit as those defending her online. According to People, she took the skit in stride, posting to her Instagram story on Sunday (May 5) and deeming the bit “ICONIC.”

“I literally don’t know what to say,” she continued. “This is fucking crazy. 3 and a half minute skit on SNL….”

Watch the sketch above.