There are no hard feelings between Mayim Bialik and former Saturday Night Live star Melanie Hutsell, who mocked Bialik’s “undeniably Jewish” nose in a 1994 episode of the long-running sketch comedy series.
Following the publication of Bialik’s Variety essay last week — in which she looked back on feeling “confused” and “ashamed” by her physical portrayal in a Blossom parody on the sketch comedy show — Hutsell expressed regret for wearing what Bialik called a “fake, big” nose. According to Hutsell, she was “horrified” when she was forced to wear the prosthetic piece at the time, and even claimed her job was threatened if she refused to do so.
“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,” she said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “That would have been the right thing to do.”
In light of Hutsell’s lengthy apology, Bialik took to Instagram to praise the actress.
“Thank you Melanie Hutsell for this — I did not intend to disparage you or SNL and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness around this!” she captioned a photo. “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!”
In Bialik’s original essay, she opened up about how her physical appearance has been discussed and ridiculed over the years. The Jeopardy host, who was only 14 when she was cast as the titular role in Blossom, even recalled the first time she was parodied on SNL.
“The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious. But. She wore a prosthetic nose,” Bialik wrote, referring to the 1994 sketch. “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.”
While she “tried to forget it” and felt “ashamed” by the way she was made fun of in the skit, Bialik wrote that she “never wanted to change” her nose.
“My genetic makeup is mine alone, and also, it is the combination of cultures shoved together after the Holocaust spilled so many of us out on the shores of Ellis Island,” she concluded. “My nose is undeniably Jewish, and I am as well. Is it because of my nose? Perhaps. But I don’t have to know because we will always be one and the same.”