In case you missed it, last weekend’s Saturday Night Live opened with a skit making fun of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s daily press conferences since Hurricane Sandy battered the city. Notably, the show featured Mr. Bloomberg’s sign language interpreter, Lydia Callis, who became a star thanks to her extremely effusive hand gestures and facial expressions, even earning a New York Times profile entitled, “During Storm Updates, Eyes on an Interpreter.”
Cecily Strong, playing Ms. Callis, took her interpretation to the next level with particularly wild hand gestures, for example, firing off shots with pretend guns in order to translate “police officers.” However, according to a tweet from Mr. Bloomberg’s deputy press secretary, Julie Wood, Ms. Callis “reports that many of cecily strong’s gestures on SNL last night were accurate ASL signs.”
Of course, SNL also mocked Mr. Bloomberg’s less-than-perfect Spanish, a regular feature of his press briefings. However, instead of translating his original message into Spanish, the mayor had a private message for the city’s Spanish-speaking population. “In the coming days the white people of New York will be irritable and moody,” he said, according to the subtitles. “They have no internet. No Facebook.”
SNL previously teased Mr. Bloomberg after other natural disasters, including Hurricane Irene earlier this year, and 2010’s infamous blizzard.
Watch below:
