Mayim Bialik wrote an essay for Variety published on Wednesday (October 18th), in which she addressed a 1994 Saturday Night Live sketch that made fun of her nose with the use of a prosthetic. The skit parodied her TV show titled Blossom.
“The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious,” Bialik wrote, referring to Melanie Hutsell. “But. She wore a prosthetic nose. In order to truly convey that she was 'Blossom,' she wore a fake, big nose.”
She continued, referring to the recent controversy surrounding Bradley Cooper‘s portrayal of Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. “Cut to 40 years later and I started hearing people talk about 'Jewface' and, more recently, about Bradley Cooper's Leonard Bernstein nose. And I started scrutinizing the photos of Bradley and Leonard and wondering if it was necessary.”
The Jeopardy! host added, “Girls all over the world used to tell me that they had never seen a Jewish girl like me on TV before they saw me on Blossom. Many said they knew I was Jewish and it made them proud to be. That was so touching to me, and it still is… I wonder how those girls felt when they saw an actress playing me with a comically prosthetic nose. I wonder if that's different from Bradley Cooper playing a famous person. Does it matter?”
