“SNL’ skit inappropriate

Child abuse is never a laughing matter. Concerned community members have reached out to the Children’s Advocacy Center at Partners with Families & Children to express outrage over the “Evil Robot” sketch on the May 20 broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” We share your outrage.

As satire has done for decades, the “SNL” writers have provided a platform to address “profoundly immoral” evil of child abuse. Child maltreatment is without a doubt the greatest evil perpetrated on the most vulnerable citizens of our community, and the writers got it right when they suggest that this evil is created by “continuing the cycle” from generation to generation. This sketch has also re-traumatized victims of abuse, whose truths have been diminished, mocked, or even laughed at when friends and family declined to believe them.

At Partners’ Children’s Advocacy Center, child victims come to us to tell the worst story of their lives, to help ensure justice for the perpetrators, and to begin the process of healing. No matter how witty the satire, we as a community cannot laugh at the evil of child maltreatment. But we can talk about it, and together we can break the cycle. And we must.

Linda Safford, CAC Program Director

Spokane