Saturday Night Live skewered Lt. Governor Randy McNally (R- Oak Ridge) in a devastating skit that featured his bizarre social media posts on Saturday’s broadcast.
“Sorry I’m late, I’ve spent all day printing out Mapquest directions,” the SNL actor portraying Lt. Gov. McNally says at the beginning of the skit.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally stops by the Update desk pic.twitter.com/a4UC00EjfH
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 12, 2023
“I didn’t think people would find out because I used my screen name,” the McNally impersonator said of the controversial social media posting.
“What was the screen name?” the SNL actor portraying a news anchor asked.
“Lieutenant Governor McNally,” the McNally impersonator responded.
It went downhill from there for McNally in the skit.
McNally became the object of widespread national derision this past week after his bizarre social media postings on his official Lieutenant Governor’s Instagram account went viral. On Wednesday, March 8, broadcast journalist Walter Murphy of WMC Action News in Memphis reported on the breaking story in this tweet:
INTERESTING: Tennessee @LtGovMcNally has been liking and commenting on this young man’s Instagram page for an extended period of time—the most attention from @BillLeeTN’s second in command going toward the racier photographs. We’ve reached out to the Lt. Gov for comment. pic.twitter.com/mOgItZWeHS
— Walter Murphy (@WMurphyNews) March 9, 2023
Lt. Governor McNally’s office responded to Murphy’s request for comment later that same day.
“As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter,” the statement read.
“He takes great pains to read every post he can, and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers. Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds, and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping,” the statement concluded.
McNally’s explanation raised more questions than it answered.
On Thursday, March 9, the 79-year-old McNally gave an interview to NewsChannel5’s Phil Williams, which did not go well for the lieutenant governor:
Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, in an exclusive interview Thursday, apologized after the uproar over his interactions with provocative posts on social media, while insisting that his intentions have been misconstrued.
“I’m really, really sorry if I’ve embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts,” McNally told NewsChannel 5 Investigates. “It was not my intent to [embarrass them] and not my intent to hurt them.” . . .
McNally responded [to a close-up of the young man’s underwear-covered backside] with three red hearts and three “on-fire” emojis, along with the comment: “Finn, you can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine.”
Multiple sources familiar with the Tennessee political landscape told The Tennessee Star in the aftermath the recent social media postings controversy that McNally may not be mentally or physically capable of continuing to serve as lieutenant governor. Many noted that they have observed a sharp drop in McNally’s mental acuity over the past two years.
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Michael Patrick Leahy is the Editor in Chief of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Leahy on Twitter at @michaelpleahy.
Photo “Lt Gov Randy McNally” by Lt. Gov Randy McNally and “Saturday Night Live” by Saturday Night Live.
He needs to head out to California, among his “PEERS”.
Intentional or not, this is unacceptable.
GOP legislators that re-elected McNally in to serve as Lt. Gov in the Senate and GOP legislators that re-elected “pantsy” Jeremy Faison to serve as House Caucus Chairman, owe conservative voters some accountability for their poor decisions. These leaders certainly don’t set an example that anyone wants to hold up either to their children, students or the rest of the country. Both the Senate and House caucuses need to clean up their acts. Time for McNally and Faison to step down from leadership.
I am not a McNally fan. He certainly has not shown much wisdom regarding this matter. Probably time to retire.