Fans were appalled by the skit shown on the late night show ahead of the Oscars (Picture: Getty Images)
Saturday Night Live audience members were less than impressed when hosts imitated Irish actors as part of a skit.
The popular late-night show came under fire after they impersonated Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson ahead of their appearance at the Oscars.
In the sketch, presenters Mario Lopez and Maria Menounos mock-interviewed celebrities as they walked the red carpet of the iconic award ceremony.
One of the hosts said: ‘I’m told that we have the stars of The Banshees of Inisherin, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson,’ following which Mikey Day and Molly Kearny appear as the pair of Irish natives.
‘How do you guys like your chances tonight?’, the actors are asked to which the comedians reply in extremely put-on, hard-to-understand accents.
Their attempts at answering the question were rewarded with: ‘Wow, and they haven’t even started drinking yet!’, as the faux actors shuffled away.
Colin and Brendan were co-stars in the award winning flick (Picture: AP)
The footage was shared on Twitter on Sunday with fans slamming script writers for their ‘wildly offensive’ impersonation of Irish people in the segment.
One social media user penned: ‘Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson will be amongst the most charming and articulate nominees there tonight, but SNL still thinks it’s funny to reduce them to stupid, boring Irish stereotypes? Get in the bin.’
The stars will be heading to the Oscars on Sunday night (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I really don’t know who SNL thinks it’s appealing to whenever it does these god awful ‘the Irish are drunks and no one understands their accent’ bits. But you could say that about most SNL content tbh [sic],’ another viewer posted.
A further tweet read: ‘It truly wouldn’t be St Patrick’s week without SNL making some offensive joke based on Irish stereotypes that wasn’t funny in 1970, yet alone 2023’.
Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee chimed in online, sharing the clip with the words: ‘Yes this fine [sic],’ followed by a face-palm emoji.
The Banshees of Inisherin has been nominated for eight gongs during Sunday night’s 95th annual Academy Awards – with all its principal stars nominated in acting categories.
Metro.co.uk contacted Colin and Brendan’s reps and NBC for comment.
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Audience members were less than impressed.