‘SNL’ Alum Melanie Hutsell Didn’t Want to Wear Prosthetic Nose for ‘Blossom’ Sketch, Says She ‘Knew It Was Wrong’: ‘I Was Told if I Refused, I Would Be Fired’

variety.com:

Michaela Zee “Saturday Night Live” alum Melanie Hutsell has expressed remorse over wearing a prosthetic nose for a 1994 sketch about the hit sitcom “Blossom,” starring Mayim Bialik in the title role. “When we were preparing to do that sketch all those years ago, I was absolutely horrified that they wanted me to wear a prosthetic nose to play Mayim Bialik’s character, Blossom,” Hutsell said in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly. “I knew it was wrong.” The comedian then revealed her possible firing from the late-night television series if she didn’t wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch. “I remember so clearly that when I expressed that I did not want to wear the prosthetic nose for the sketch, I was told if I refused, I would be fired,” Hutsell said. “And keep in mind, many of the people who had a hand in creating the sketch were Jewish.

Although I had and have always had a strong moral compass, I didn’t have the strength to refuse to do the sketch after I was told I would be fired.” “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,” Hutsell continued. “That would have been the right thing to do.” Variety has reached out to representatives for SNL for comment.

In Bialik’s essay, which is part of Variety’s Antisemitism and Hollywood package, the “Big Bang Theory” star recalled watching “SNL’s” parody of “Blossom” in the ’90s. “The actress portraying me was dancing and mugging for the camera and she was hilarious.

But. She wore a prosthetic nose. In order to truly convey that she was ‘Blossom,’ she wore a fake, big nose,” Bialik wrote.