For any number of fans who got upset last year at Bowen Yang‘s Saturday Night Live segment parodying both Moo Deng and pop star Chappell Roan, the “Pink Pony Club” artist would ask you to please calm down.
On the Wednesday (April 16) episode of Las Culturistas, Yang and co-host Matt Rogers chatted with Roan about her fans’ reaction to Yang’s appearance on Weekend Update, during which he dressed as the viral baby pygmy hippopotamus and echoed the singer’s sentiments about inappropriate fan behavior. “Do not yell my name or expect a photo just because I’m your parasocial bestie or you appreciate my talent,” his Moo Deng proclaimed before clarifying that the hippo’s talent was “having a slippery body that bounces.”
While some fans felt that Yang was mocking Roan’s boundary-setting statement, the pop singer says she never felt that way. “I wasn’t even mad,” she declared as soon as Rogers brought up the topic. “I did [think it was funny], I didn’t feel anything!”
As Yang explained that he chatted with Drag Race winner and Roan’s friend Sasha Colby about the public outcry, the singer explained that she wished some of her fans would pump the breaks before jumping to her defense. “People do not have to get mad on my behalf — we are fine. What is there to be mad about?” she said. “It’s comedy! It was so lighthearted. It was, to me, harmless. Even if you were to push it further — harmless! It’s comedy, I just don’t understand … I just don’t know ‘the line’ anymore.”
Rogers explained some fans’ “parasocial” need to “protect this person,” even when the person in question has not asked for protection. Chappell agreed, adding that “even if you didn’t think the Moo Deng sketch was funny, you don’t have to say anything! Like, you can always not say something.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Roan also chatted with the pair about some disappointed fan reactions to “The Giver” after her viral debut of the track on SNL, referring to their preference as “demo-itis.” “You have attached memories, all of these things to this one version of the song, but it’s actually not as good as the recorded version,” she explains. “But you fall in love with what you hear first, because when you hear a different version, you’re just going to hate it because it’s different.”
Check out Chappell’s full conversation with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on Las Culturistas below:
