“Saturday Night Live” alum Melanie Hutsell has expressed remorse over wearing a prosthetic nose for a 1994 sketch about the hit sitcom “Blossom,” starring Mayim Bialik in the title role.
“When we were preparing to do that sketch all those years ago, I was absolutely horrified that they wanted me to wear a prosthetic nose to play Mayim Bialik’s character, Blossom,” Hutsell said in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly. “I knew it was wrong.”
The comedian then revealed her possible firing from the late-night television series if she didn’t wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch.
“I remember so clearly that when I expressed that I did not want to wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch, I was told if I refused, I would be fired,” Hutsell said. “And keep in mind, many of the people who had a hand in creating the sketch were Jewish. Although I had and have always had a strong moral compass, I didn’t have the strength to refuse to do the sketch after I was told I would be fired.”
“If I could go back and change history, I would have refused to wear the prosthetic nose and taken the risk of losing my job,” Hutsell continued. “That would have been the right thing to do.”
Bialik responded to Hutsell’s statement on Instagram, writing, “Thank you Melanie Hutsell for this – I did not intend to disparage you or SNL and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness around this! It made for an interesting essay (which I was asked to write many months ago on the topic of antisemitism) and with everything going on in the world, I’m virtually hugging you and appreciate you very much!”
Variety has reached out to representatives for SNL for comment.
In Bialik’s essay, which is part of Variety’s Antisemitism and Hollywood package, the “Big Bang Theory” star recalled watching “SNL’s” parody of “Blossom” in the ’90s.
“The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious. But. She wore a prosthetic nose. In order to truly convey that she was ‘Blossom,’ she wore a fake, big nose,” Bialik wrote. “I don’t know if it was significantly larger than my real nose and I don’t care to remember. I remember that it struck me as odd. And it confused me.”
Hutsell recalled apologizing to Bialik in person for the “SNL” sketch a decade later.
“The whole situation haunted me for years, but thankfully I had an opportunity at an audition about ten years after the fact to look Mayim in the eye and apologize for what I did, to which she responded, ‘I release you!’ I took that to mean that she accepted my apology and that meant more to me than she will ever know,” Hutsell said. “Considering I married someone who is Jewish and have two children who are Jewish, the idea that I caused pain to a fellow actor who was a teenager at the time is not something I’m proud of, but I have had to forgive myself.”