LONDON – English actress Aimee Lou Wood, a star of HBO series The White Lotus, has criticised American comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) for a sketch that mocked her smile, calling it “mean and unfunny”.

Wood, 31, posted on Instagram on April 13, objecting to the sketch, in which SNL (1975 to present) cast member Sarah Sherman impersonates Wood’s character while wearing large prosthetic teeth.

“I am not thin-skinned,” Wood wrote in one of a series of posts on her Instagram Stories, adding that she loves being joked about when “it’s clever and in good spirits”.

But “the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth, not bad teeth”, she wrote.

In a subsequent post, Wood said she had received “apologies” from SNL but did not elaborate. Representatives for Wood and NBC, which broadcasts SNL, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The sketch, titled The White Potus, imagined the show’s characters replaced by United States President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet.

Wood, who is from Manchester, England, also criticised Sherman’s impersonation of her Mancunian accent.

After her initial posts, Wood said she had since received thousands of messages of support. She reposted what appeared to be one such message, which said: “It was a sharp and funny skit until it suddenly took a screeching turn into 1970s misogyny.”

The third season of The White Lotus (2021 to present), which concluded in April and was the series’ most popular yet, follows wealthy guests and staff members at a wellness resort in Thailand.

Among the guests is Chelsea, played by Wood, a romantic young British woman who is dating an enigmatic older American.

Wood has been celebrated for her natural smile, especially at a time when many celebrities are opting for veneers to achieve “perfect” teeth.

But in a recent interview with GQ magazine, she said the news media’s focus on her appearance in coverage of The White Lotus 3 had made her feel uncomfortable, even if the attention was intended to be positive.

“It makes me really happy that it’s symbolising rebellion and freedom, but there’s a limit,” she told the magazine. “The whole conversation is just about my teeth, and it makes me a bit sad because I’m not getting to talk about my work.”

She added: “If it was a man, would we be talking about it this much?” NYTIME...