ColorOfChange Hails SNL's Zamat Hire

ColorOfChange, the civil rights group that urged NBCUniversal to include a black woman in the cast of Saturday Night Live, applauded SNL for announcing that Sasheer Zamata would be joining the venerable "not ready for primetime" players.

"We are delighted by Saturday Night Live's announcement that Sasheer Zamata will be joining the cast as a featured player. Zamata is a talented comedian and we congratulate her on seizing this great opportunity," ColorOfChange executive director Rashad Robinson said in a statement.

The group had shared its concerns with the network, and called the decision to add a black cast member an important step. "We'd like to thank NBCUniversal for hearing our community's concerns," the group said, but added that it would be monitoring the situation to "ensure that she has the support she needs backstage to be successful on screen."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.