Timothée Chalamet has been slammed for a ‘tone-deaf’ joke on Saturday Night Live (Picture: Will Heath/ NBC via Getty Images)
Timothée Chalamet has been called ‘disrespectful’ after making a joke about late U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
The Dune and Wonka star, who was last week nominated for an Oscar for his starring role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, guest hosted the latest episode of the long-running comedy show over the weekend.
However, one sketch saw viewers fuming after it poked fun at the former politician, who died aged 100 last month.
In the segment Timothee, 29, was playing a bungee instructor named Nathaniel Latrine and guided two of the show’s comedians though exercises he warned were not for ‘the faint of heart’.
While in character and hanging from a harness he instructed his class to undertake a series of moves like flying or swimming before shouting out ‘Jimmy Carter’, with the group then dropping and appearing lifeless.
Some audience members could be heard gasping during the joke, while many watching on at home were less than impressed.
He was playing a bungee instructor during one of the sketches (Picture: NBC/ Backgrid)
‘SNL did a joke about Jimmy Carter being dead. Totally unnecessary and the opposite of funny,’ Barbara posted on X.
‘That Jimmy Carter joke on #SNL was way out of line and much too soon. I don’t think that would have been funny 5 years from now. I hope his family didn’t see that,’ Jay shared.
‘Insensitive & really immature. Just unnecessary,’ Mateo added.
However viewers were left unimpressed by a joke about Jimmy Carter (Picture: NBC/ Backgrid)
Many others said it was ‘poor taste’.
The actor and SNL are yet to comment on the backlash.
After a year in hospice care, Carter died at his home on December 29 in the small town of Plains, Georgia where he grew up.
The former U.S. President died aged 100 last month (Picture: Reuters/ USA Today)
A former peanut farmer and a Democrat, Carter won the presidency following the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War.
He served as US President from 1977 until 1981.
Last year SNL was also criticised after inviting Alec Baldwin to host an episode and perform in a series of sketches.
Appearing a few months after his involuntary manslaughter trial was officially dismissed, viewers said seeing the actor on the comedy show felt ‘tone-deaf’.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC in the U.S.
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