On Tuesday, Color of Change, the Van Jones-founded leftist racial interest group, announced that it had obtained a meeting with senior NBC executives about Saturday Night Live’s lack of a black woman in its cast. After praising Saturday Night Live for last week’s bizarre sketch with Kerry Washington talking about SNL’s lack of black women – a segment capped by MSNBC’s Al Sharpton appearing to grant racial absolution – Color of Change said:

It was compelling to watch Kerry Washington and Jay Pharoah take on the issue of SNL’s lack of Black women cast members in the cold open of Saturday night’s episode. While certainly clever, it unfortunately doesn’t change the racial makeup of the current cast, or the reality of SNL‘s problematic history with race and gender. Saturday Night Live has substantial power in shaping the comedic world beyond Saturday nights. The absence of Black women on SNL means that Black women will continue to be overlooked — in both casting and character development — on sitcoms, late night talk shows, and in comedic films.

Color of Change continued by hoping that NBC and Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live creator, would take “this conversation seriously,” blasting Michaels for the fact that only four black women have ever been regular members of the SNL cast. “Michaels has an opportunity to make lasting change in the show’s casting policies by opening doors for Black women on SNL, and moving us closer to a media landscape that is reflective of the American scene,” Color of Change stated in a press release.

Finally, Color of Change announced the meeting: “We are meeting with senior NBC Executives later this month and look forward to discussing what steps NBC and Lorne Michaels will take to ensure the inclusion of Black women in the cast of Saturday Night Live.”