Molly Kearney Makes ‘SNL’ History as First Openly Nonbinary Cast Member
For the first time in Saturday Night Live’s (SNL) 47-year history, an openly nonbinary cast member will join the NBC sketch comedy show. Actor and comedian Molly Kearney, will return for the 48th season with a more permanent role after appearing as Sarah Sherman’s opening act this past June.
Advocate reports that the Ohio native is best known for their roles in Amazon’s A League of Their Own—which has been deemed as a huge success among the queer community by NBC—and Disney’s The Mighty Duck as well as their selection for Comedy Central’s Up Next showcase in 2019. They has also helped produce the outdoor stand-up comedy show “The Big One” which is held monthly according to CBS News.
Kearney’s presence in the series will bring new representation and a fresh perspective. SNL first cast Terry Sweeney—the show’s first out gay person—in 1985, but in recent years has shown a trend of breaking down barriers and creating a more inclusive network that shows its viewership that comedy is for everybody. In 2019, Bowen Yang became the first out gay Asian American cast member followed by Punkie Johnson, who was the show’s first out, Black lesbian, to this year’s new season casting announcement.
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Season 48 will ring in a new era. Advocate states that long-time cast members and featured players Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Aristotle Athari have left the show and will be replaced by Kearney and three others. Joining them will be Marcello Hernandez a writer, comedian, and actor; Devon Walker, a writer on two TV series—Everything’s Trash and Big Mouth—and comedian Michael Longfellow.
On September 12, following SNL’s Emmy win for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, the show’s creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels addressed the press, saying, “This will be a transition year, and the change years are always difficult but also really exciting because there’s new people, and things are changing, and a different generation come into the show.”
This new generation of comedians will premiere season 48 on October 1 with two weeks of original episodes on NBC.
Photos Courtesy Molly Kearney’s Instagram
