Punkie SNLster

While we’re on a good casting news role, “Saturday Night Live” added three new cast members including its first out Black lesbian comic. Punkie Johnson becomes only the second out lesbian in the show’s history and will join fellow out gay cast mates Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang in the new, and hopefully very gay, season. I’m sadly not familiar with Punkie’s work, though I do remember her from a particularly memorable (not to mention very gay) “Black Lady Sketch Show” sketch where she plays a mysterious newcomer at a lesbian bar.

According to NBCOut, Punkie will actually be the second Black lesbian cast member and fourth lesbian cast member, period. Those would Danitra Vance (1985-86) and Denny Dillon (1980-81). But neither woman was out at the time.

So welcome, Punkie. The more queers, glorious queers on that show, the better.