Saoirse Ronan tried to explain SNLs controversial Aer Lingus sketch in Ireland

Two weekends ago, Saoirse Ronan hosted Saturday Night Live. I’ve gotten to the age where I use my weekends to sleep and rest, not to party and stay up late watching SNL, so I only watched the clips from Saoirse’s episode the morning after. I thought she was utterly charming, and you could tell that she thought it was such a big deal. She’s an Irish indie-film actress Irish indie-film actress and she wanted so badly to represent herself and Ireland and Irish people. As an American, I thought she did a good job, and I find her Irish accent completely lovely (God, I love Irish accents). But there were those in Ireland who believe that Saoirse is, like, bad for Ireland. Like she misrepresents them, like her accent is fake (not completely fake, but that she makes it fake-stronger in America). And Irish people apparently hated this skit where she seemed to be making fun of the Irish airline carrier Aer Lingus. Here’s the sketch:

I didn’t really get the joke. Is the joke that Aer Lingus flights are never on schedule because flights are delayed constantly because of dogs? Is the joke that Irish people love dogs? I have no idea. Aer Lingus made a joke too…???

Just tried watching Saturday Night Live – unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Ronan impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad

— Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) December 3, 2017

If you read the comments on that tweet, you’ll see that there were strong feelings about Aer Lingus across the board in Ireland, and whether their service is actually any good, and whether their customer service is what is being satirized in the SNL sketch. I still have no idea. In any case, poor Saoirse. Irish people are mad at her! And so she appeared on the Irish chat show The Late Late Show over the weekend and tried to defend the sketch, saying: “I am not anti-Aer Lingus! Listen, I collect my points on Aer Lingus, that’s how often I fly Aer Lingus. I shop local and eat Tayto! It was so much fun and it was great to represent Ireland and great to have U2 on the show with me.”

"I am not anti-Aer Lingus! I collect my points! That's how often I fly @AerLingus! – Saoirse Ronan on that controversial Saturday Night Live @nbcsnl sketch #latelate pic.twitter.com/m88uQiLruN

— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) December 8, 2017

If this is literally the worst thing they can dig up on Saoirse, I have to say… I think her Oscar campaign is going to go really well. Right now, it’s looking like it’s between Ronan and Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water. I would give Ronan the edge because she’s more well-known, because her film was directed by a woman (Greta Gerwig) and because this is literally the only controversy around Saoirse: some Irish people think she’s “faking” some of her Irishness for Americans and they also think she shouldn’t make fun of anything Irish. That’s it.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News and NBC/WENN.

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