A member of the Saturday Night Live cast has courted controversy by sharing a camp story in a Vanity Fair segment. Chloe Fineman, a cast member since 2019, made a shocking confession about how she lost her job as a camp counselor, sparking huge backlash on social media. It all unfolded when the cast members were playing a game titled “SNL Cast Test: How Well They Know Each Other.”
Vanity Fair and Chloe Fineman in the crosshairs after airing story
While playing the game, Fineman asked whether they knew what job she had been fired from at 16. After the performers took different guesses, all of which proved to be wrong, Fineman revealed that she was fired as a camp counselor for pantsing a boy. She further said the reason for doing it was that he would lift her shirt on the pretext of wanting a hug.
“He would lift my shirt all the time. It was a different time. He would be like, ‘Hey, could I have a hug?’ And then I’d go to hug him, and he’d lift my shirt, like a d—,” Fineman said.
Continuing her story, she said that once, during a hiking trip, she told the boy to look at a bird, “and then I yanked his pants down, and then I was fired.”
Reportedly, the child was around 6 years old, and he wasn’t wearing any underwear, which led to exposure. Apart from the details, the controversy was fueled by the fact that Fineman told the story in a light, comedic tone, which some viewers felt was inappropriate to joke about. Her co-stars also appeared visibly uncomfortable during the segment.
Matters escalated further when Vanity Fair edited the original video to remove key parts, such as the child’s age and the portion where the SNL comedian revealed that the boy’s private parts were exposed. This led to a second wave of criticism, not just toward Fineman but also toward Vanity Fair for editing the clip after the backlash.
Fans pointed out that the story was inappropriate regardless of context, while others criticized the tone-deaf delivery. Regardless, both Vanity Fair and Fineman are facing significant backlash, and it remains to be seen whether anything consequential comes out of the incident.
