‘White Lotus’ star Aimee Lou Wood calls ‘SNL’ parody ‘mean and unfunny’

The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood is not laughing at Saturday Night Live‘s send-up of the HBO hit that included a parody of her character, Chelsea, played by Sarah Sherman in a set of very pronounced fake teeth.

“I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny,” Wood wrote in a series of Instagram Stories posts about the sketch, which aired during last night’s episode.

“Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple weeks ago,” she wrote on another slide. “Yes, take the piss for sure — that’s what the show is about — but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”

The sketch, titled “The White Potus,” portrayed various members of the Trump family and their political allies as White Lotus–esque characters. James Austin Johnson played a despondent President Donald Trump, akin to Jason Isaacs‘ Timothy Ratliff, as Chloe Fineman took on Parker Posey’s show accent to play Melania Trump. Mikey Day and former cast member Alex Moffat returned to their roles as Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric — meant to be stand-ins for Lotus‘ incestuous brothers, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) — while Scarlett Johansson portrayed Ivanka Trump, ditching a life of meditation just like Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook).

Sherman, as the only nonpolitical character in the sketch, was paired with Jon Hamm playing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but dressed like Walton Goggins‘ Rick, the beau of Wood’s Chelsea on season 3 of the drama series.

“I’ve been having these insane ideas, like what if we took all the fluoride out of the drinking water? What would that do to people’s teeth?” Hamm as RFK Jr. asked his travel companion.

“Fluoride? What’s that?” asked Sherman, showing off a massive set of chompers and opening her eyes very wide.

“On a positive note, everyone is agreeing with me about it, so I’m glad I said something instead of going in on myself,” Wood wrote on another slide, after earlier opening up about her own “imposter syndrome.”

The English actress went on to share some of the messages from her fans about the sketch, of which she said there were “thousands.”

“Correct,” she wrote in a reply to one person’s point that “everyone else in that parody was a political figure who was being mocked. The only character who wasn’t political was Chelsea, and they were clearly just taking the piss out of your appearance.”

Another fan called Sherman out for “the Mancunian accent she was attempting to do,” calling it “terrible.” Wood agreed, adding, “At least get the accent right, seriously. I respect accuracy even if it’s mean.”

About two hours after first opening up about the sketch, Wood posted, “I’ve had apologies from SNL,” but did not specify who they were from or what was said.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Representatives for SNL did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment.

Watch the full sketch above. Saturday Night Live returns May 3 at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC with host Quinta Brunson and musical guest Benson Boone.