Aimee Lou Wood calls out SNL’s tooth joke and urges fans not to copy her natural smile amid viral obsession.
Saturday Night Live has been clowning celebrities since forever; no fame, face, or filter is safe. They’ve given us twerking Britneys, shouty Kanyes, chaotic Trumps, and every weird pop culture fever dream in between. If it’s trending, SNL’s probably already turned it into a sketch with wigs, accents, and at least one person yelling in a high-pitched voice. Sometimes it’s genius, sometimes it’s a fever dream you can’t unsee.
But every now and then, they hit a nerve. Their latest? A mashup parody of The White Lotus that threw in a character clearly inspired by Aimee Lou Wood, with exaggerated teeth and a very not-subtle dig at her smile. Fans weren’t laughing, and honestly, neither was Wood.
When the joke is more “ouch” than “LOL,” even the most loyal viewers start side-eyeing. The spoof felt less satire and more playground teasing, and the internet definitely noticed.
Aimee Lou Wood calls SNL’s parody ‘mean and unfunny’
Aimee Lou Wood had every reason to cringe after watching the April 12 episode of Saturday Night Live. The sketch, titled “White Potus,” tried to blend The White Lotus with political chaos but ended up crossing into bad taste territory.
Sarah Sherman playing The White Lotus parody in SNL and Aimee Lou Wood in The White Lotus (Credits- Saturday Night Live/YouTube, HBO)
While the sketch had its usual parade of goofy impersonations, it was the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it caricature of Wood’s character, Chelsea, complete with comically oversized teeth, that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. And not the “haha that was savage” kind.
Wood took to Instagram, calling the bit “mean and unfunny,” adding,
There must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?
Oof. Right in the satire. But she wasn’t alone in feeling that way. Her comments were met with a tidal wave of support from fans who weren’t here for the lazy dental joke either. One wrote,
Aimee, the SNL skit was so cruel. Don’t pay attention to the mean things people say. They are broken. You are beautiful inside and out!
Another fan chimed in with a suggestion we can totally get behind,
Shame on SNL. Hopefully she’ll just host it very soon and get a standing ovation. I love this girl. She’s so real.
Yes, please. Even though Wood later shared that she received apologies from SNL, the damage was kind of done. The joke missed the mark and hit a nerve instead. For a show known for its razor-sharp writing, this felt more playground jab than satirical genius.
And if anything, this moment just proved that Aimee Lou Wood has a fiercely loyal fanbase, a whole lot of grace, and clearly, the last laugh.
Aimee Lou Wood tells fans not to copy her teeth
Aimee Lou Wood tells fans not to copy her teeth, and honestly, thank goodness someone said it. While her gap-toothed grin is winning hearts across continents, the White Lotus star is waving a big “please don’t DIY your dental work” flag.
Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, Wood laughed off the growing obsession with her natural smile, saying,
I can’t believe the impact my teeth are having, because the Americans can’t believe [my teeth]. But they’re all being lovely.
Lovely, yes. But also kind of intense. TikTok dentists have been dissecting her diastema like it’s a hot new trend, and while most of them agree she shouldn’t change a thing (correct!), Wood is understandably a bit freaked out by the idea of people asking their orthodontists to recreate her unique smile.
She said, when Ross joked about fans copying her look.
I hope that people don’t start, like, filing their teeth [so] they have gaps.
Honestly, the reaction to her smile has been wild, from full-blown think pieces like “The Novelty of Aimee Lou Wood’s Natural Smile” in The New York Times to viral reels praising her for going veneer-free in a sea of cookie-cutter Hollywood grins.
It’s all very sweet, but Wood’s just here to remind everyone that authenticity is great, and so is not doing weird stuff to your teeth in the name of Instagram trends.
