Remember when Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister” seemed like an innocent, ukulele-driven bop? Well, Saturday Night Live just reminded us that not everything ages well—especially when you dig into the lyrics. In a hilarious sketch set in 1950s Detroit, SNL takes the song’s problematic undertones and puts them into a painfully awkward new context.
The sketch revolves around Andrew Dismukes and Ego Nwodim, playing an interracial couple trying to get Dismukes’ old-school, white parents — played by host Michael Keaton and Heidi Gardner — to approve of their relationship. On the flip side, Nwodim’s family (Kenan Thompson and Devon Walker) are already on board.
To win over his skeptical parents, Dismukes pulls out what he believes is the ultimate peace offering: a song he wrote that will surely change everyone’s minds. That song? Yep, it’s “Hey, Soul Sister,” with the “soul sister” clearly referring to Nwodim.
Yikes.
While Keaton and Gardner’s characters eat it up, Nwodim and Thompson are not having it. Thus, the sketch ends with Nwodim and her family promptly calling off the engagement.
