“Saturday Night Live” has added another Black female to its official cast roster. Leslie Jones, a writer for the sketch comedy show who has appeared in a few “Weekend Update” segments, has been announced as a new cast member.
Jones earned mixed reviews for a “Weekend Update” appearance in May in which she said that she would not be single if we still had slavery. “See, I’m single right now, but back in the slave days, I would have never been single.”
The 47-year-old comedienne has been performing since 1987. She toured with Katt Williams and appeared on BET and HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam.” She’s also been a featured performer at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal and the Aspen Comedy Festival.
People took to Twitter to congratulate Jones:
Congrats to Leslie Jones (@lesdoggg) on officially joining the SNL cast!
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) October 21, 2014
Awesome #diversity RT @peoplemag: Have you met the latest woman to join the cast of #SNL yet? http://t.co/3PWStUFJdS @NBCSNL — Garcelle Beauvais (@GarcelleB) October 22, 2014
And of course, Jones herself joined in on the excitement.
It’s official I’m a cast member!!! Get ready! Get ready!! @nbcsnl
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) October 20, 2014
Jones’ premiere as an official cast member will happen this Saturday, October 25, with host Jim Carrey.