Live From New York, It’s Regina King Making Her Hosting Debut on Saturday Night Live!
TheRoot.com, By Shanelle Genai, Posted February 9th 2021
Regina King (also known as Regina Thee King and Regina BEEN King) will be making her hosting debut in the upcoming new season of Saturday Night Live.
In a press release sent to The Root, the One Night in Miami director will be gracing the SNL stage with her presence for the February 13 broadcast, with folk and R&B artist Nathaniel Rateliff set to perform as the night’s musical guest. The Office’s John Krasinski and Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy are also set to make their hosting debut on January 30 and February 6, respectively. With this latest news, I think it’s pretty safe to say that King—who just recently celebrated a birthday and also happens to be on the cover of InStyle’s February issue—is still having a moment. Like, a big moment. As a matter of fact, a movement might actually be a better word for it. Not only is she about to make her SNL debut, but her directorial debut film is already getting Oscar buzz with many projecting her as a serious contender for Best Director. (I mean—what did you expect? She’s an Emmy and an Oscar-winning woman. Let’s be real here.)
Based on the award-winning play of the same name, One Night in Miami follows “four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate.”
King spoke to InStyle about One Night in Miami and why she felt it important to portray Black men in a more nuanced way: “I want every Black man I know and love to see themselves in this film because I saw them when I read the script. Some could look at [those themes of certainties and insecurities] as subtleties, but they are the big-ticket items I want people to leave with. Nobody is perfect and we are just trying to do our best. While these men are legendary, they were trying to do their best. It’s as simple as that.”
She added, “It really humanized them. I feel like we don’t get the opportunity to see Black men like this, and most of us have Black men who are this layered in our lives, who have this much love and strength and vulnerability, all of those things, in one.”
One Night in Miami is now available in select theaters and on Amazon Prime Video. And be sure to set your DVR for King’s Saturday Night Live debut on February 13 only on NBC.
