Joe Paterno and SNL

The other night when I couldn't fall asleep I decided to watch this week's episode of Saturday Night Live. One of the skits featured a topic that has come up several times in our class discussions: the Penn State scandal.  The skit was Seth Myer's Weekend Update.  When he first mentioned the Penn State scandal I was really curious as to what he was going to say about it.  In the Weekend Update Seth Myers always satirizes the most recent events in the public sphere, so I was left wondering how he was going to talk about such a serious topic.  There really isn't a way to joke about child molestation that isn't offensive or inappropriate.

Here is a link to the skit for anyone who wants to watch it:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/299647/saturday-night-live-weekend-update-the-devil-on-penn-state

In the skit Seth Myers interviews the Devil about the scandal.  The Devil has no idea about what is going on and as Seth Myers tells him more and more about what happened, the Devil freaks out.  The point of the skit was to show how ridiculous the whole situation was and that Joe Paterno did not do his part in helping to put a stop to the molestation and and also in a way shows how ignorant the students of Penn State are for being so upset about Paterno being fired.  I thought that the skit was funny and also highlighted some good points about the whole scandal.  I understand that Joe Paterno was a legendary coach who was an important part of Penn State but that does not change the fact that he was enabler of the molestation of 8 boys.  I believe that he is receiving the punishment that he deserves.  I also think that Penn State students need to realize this and stop portraying Paterno as the victim instead of the children who were molested. 

ps. if anyone has time I recomend you watch the entire episode because there were other funny skits.  The opening skit about the Republican debate was my favorite of the episode.