ROME, ITALY - JANUARY 30: Will Ferrell attends the Photocall for the Fan Screening of the Paramount Pictures film 'Zoolander No. 2' at 'Hotel De Russie Garden' on January 30, 2016 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Will Ferrell has come forward to acknowledge that he regrets a past acting role in which he played a character in drag to make the audience laugh.
In an episode of The New York Times Interview podcast, alongside Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele, Ferrell remarked that he is apologetic about his role in “Janet Reno’s Fantasies,” a sketch from season 23 of Saturday Night Live. In the episode, Ferrell plays the former attorney general in drag, intended to make the audience laugh at the offensive stereotypes.
Ferrell stated, “That’s something I wouldn’t choose to do now.” Later, he admitted that there is “a fair amount” of sketches from his time at Saturday Night Live that he would probably “lament” nowadays.
Steele speculated regarding the specific sketch Ferrell referenced: “This kind of bums me out…I understand the laugh is a drag laugh. It’s, ‘Hey, look at this guy in a dress, and that’s funny.’ It’s absolutely not funny. It’s absolutely a way that we should be able to live in the world. However, with performers and actors, I do like a sense of play.”
In discussing sketches from the show he regretted, Ferrel said, “I mean, in a way, the cast — you’re kind of given this assignment. So I’m going to blame the writers.”
Steele matter-of-factly noted, “I wrote Monica Lewinsky stuff I wasn’t proud of. I wrote some good Britney Spears stuff and some stuff that I’m not as proud of. I wrote some [Bill] Clinton things I wasn’t proud of. I’m just moving on. I have to.”
Steele came out as transgender in 2022 after she and Ferrell had been friends for 30 years. A movie about their friendship, entitled Will & Harper, first released in theaters in January 2024, hits Netflix on September 27.
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