Actress Melanie Hutsell once impersonated a character as played by Mayim Bialik while also donning a prosthetic nose. Recently, the costume choice has received renewed attention, including from Bialik herself, and Hutsell has come forward to offer an apology.
The incident occurred in a 1994 Saturday Night Live sketch involving the titular main character in the sitcom Blossom, which Bialik starred in from ’91 to ’95. Bialik, who is now also known for co-hosting Jeopardy!, penned an essay for Variety sharing how she “felt ashamed” seeing the sketch. In response, Hutsell has issued an apology that Bialik has since reacted to.
Mayim Bialik addresses Melanie Hutsell wearing a prosthetic nose to impersonate her on ‘SNL’
The use of prosthetics to enhance various features has come to renewed attention in the wake of Bradley Cooper’s use of a prosthetic nose in his portrayal of Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Bialik addresses her own complicated feelings regarding the physical aspect of parody in her recent Variety essay, especially in relation to the 1994 sketch starring Hutsell.
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“The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious,” she said. “But. She wore a prosthetic nose. In order to truly convey that she was ‘Blossom,’ she wore a fake, big nose.”
She continued, “I don’t know if it was significantly larger than my real nose and I don’t care to remember. I remember that it struck me as odd. And it confused me. No one else on the show was parodied for their features. In MAD magazine, everyone is caricatured, but in this rendition of parody, it was just me that was singled out. More specifically, it was my nose.” She later recalled, “All of my friends at high school watched SNL. It wasn’t subtle. They would all see it and I felt ashamed.”
Bialik also revealed that she has been told from girls all over that they felt a renewed sense of pride and inspiration, seeing a Jewish actress like Bialik in such a celebrated role as Blossom. “That was so touching to me, and it still is,” she said, but added, “I wonder how those girls felt when they saw an actress playing me with a comically prosthetic nose.”
Melanie Hutsell and Mayim Bialik exchange words
Bialik’s essay reached Hutsell’s attention and the SNL alum has gone on to address the sketch. “When we were preparing to do that sketch all those years ago, I was absolutely horrified that they wanted me to wear a prosthetic nose to play Mayim Bialik’s character, Blossom,” she shared in a statement to EW. “I knew it was wrong.”
However, Hutsell claimed, when she voiced her discomfort with her colleagues, she felt her job was at risk. She elaborated, “I remember so clearly that when I expressed that I did not want to wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch, I was told if I refused, I would be fired. And keep in mind, many of the people who had a hand in creating the sketch were Jewish. Although I had and have always had a strong moral compass, I didn’t have the strength to refuse to do the sketch after I was told I would be fired.”
Hutsell concluded, “If I could go back and change history, I would have refused to wear the prosthetic nose and taken the risk of losing my job. That would have been the right thing to do.”
Bialik directly addressed the explanation and apology. “Thank you Melanie Hutsell for this,” she shared on Instagram, adding, “I did not intend to disparage you or SNL and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness around this! It made for an interesting essay (which I was asked to write many months ago on the topic of antisemitism) and with everything going on in the world, I’m virtually hugging you and appreciate you very much!”
Do you remember the 1994 Blossom sketch?
