Photo used under Creative Commons license from flickr.com user Brennen Schmidt 

For 38 years, Saturday Night Live has made Americans laugh, created iconic characters, launched the careers for many actors, poked fun at politics and, most importantly, helped me pass news quizzes and given me an excuse to stay in on a Saturday night.

But in all seriousness, SNL always comments on important social issues. If there is an election, political scandal, royal wedding, Miley Cyrus moment, controversial award show or anything dealing with Sarah Palin, you can always count on SNL to provide a skit.

However, while SNL is usually the one to poke fun at other people’s issues, the comedy sketch show was in the news this week about its own.

On Nov. 2, Scandal star Kerry Washington hosted the show and brought to light the fact that it has been more than five years since SNL has had a black female cast member — the last was Maya Rudolph. And in total, SNL has only had four black women on the show.

SNL acknowledged this and made fun of itself by having Washington play Michelle Obama, Oprah and Beyonce. The joke was that because she was the only black woman on the show and Kenan Thompson wouldn’t dress in drag, she would have to play every character. While she changed, a voiceover apologized to Washington for the number of black characters she would have to play because the show lacks black actresses. At the end of the sketch, they brought out a bunch of cast members playing Matthew McConaughey because they have many people who could play him.

So my question is: If SNL is not afraid to push the boundaries with their skits about politics and race, why isn’t there a black female cast member?

“It’s not like it’s not a priority for us,” SNL producer Lorne Michaels said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It will happen. I’m sure it will happen.”

While I don’t accuse SNL of purposefully not hiring black women, I just find it hard to believe that, in 38 years, they have only had four black women on the show. I’m not a casting director nor have I had experience in comedy, but is it really that hard to find a talented black actress for the show? I don’t know if the problem is that the field lacks black women, but in this day and age, we shouldn’t be having that problem. There needs to be more diversity among the SNL cast.

I hope that next year there will be a black woman on SNL because, as Washington said in her opening monologue, “Haven’t you played Miley enough?”