Cecily Strong played Goober the Clown on the popular segment of the latest episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’ and revealed her character had ‘a clown abortion at 23’ while also calling it ‘a rough subject’ to talk about.
Cecily Strong, 37, was dressed as a clown while bringing up the serious topic of abortion during Weekend Update on the Nov. 6 episode of Saturday Night Live. The actress played Goober the Clown, who looked a lot like Loonette from the childrens’ series The Big Comfy Couch, in the headline-making segment and used the character to bring attention to the Texan law that effectively bans abortion after six weeks. After Cecily’s clown revealed she had “a clown abortion at 23,” she went on to explain how it’s not something she prefers to talk about because it’s her own “personal clown business.”
“I really don’t [want to talk about this],” Cecily’s Goober character said about the abortion talk during the segment. “But people keep bringing it up, so I gotta talk about freaking abortion… I wish I didn’t have to do this, because the abortion I had at 23 is my personal clown business.”
“It’s a rough subject, so we’re gonna do fun clown stuff to make it more palatable,” she continued. “Who wants a balloon animal?”
Her character then went on to talk about abortion statistics. “Did you know that one in three clowns will have an abortion in her lifetime?” she asked. “You don’t, because they don’t tell you. They don’t even know how to talk to other clowns about it, because when they do talk about it, if you were a clown who wasn’t the victim of something sad like clown-cest, they think your clown abortion wasn’t a ‘righteous clown abortion.’ I mean, what the d*ck is that?!”
During the airing of Cecily’s Goober the Clown appearance, Twitter users shared tweets in support of the sketch involving the controversial topic. “I had an abortion at 21—thanks for sharing your truth, abortion clown!” one user exclaimed. “Please have Goober The Clown be at the Supreme Court 12/1 when Boss v Jackson is heard (Well done #CecilyStrong),” another wrote. “Goober the Clown is crap at balloon animals, but drops truth bombs with laser accuracy,” a third pointed out.
Further into the segment, Colin Jost reminded Cecily’s Goober that cursing is not allowed on Weekend Update and she didn’t hesitate to continue trying to make him and others laugh. “It’s funny, Colin, we’re having fun—just laugh, pull my finger… Laugh! I need it! I need you to laugh so hard, like the way I laughed when the doctor asked if I got pregnant on my way over to the clinic because I wasn’t very far along,” she said.
“Not like a funny-haha joke,” she continued, “but like, in a funny, you’re not an awful person and your life isn’t over joke. A-honka honka!”
See the full video of Cecily’s portrayal of Goober the Clown during the Weekend Update segment above.