NBC Backtracks on SNL Bailout Skit

Remember that controversial Saturday Night Live skit -- the one that lampooned some high-profile Democrats and was subsequently scrubbed from NBC.com and Hulu.com?

Well, it will be back online within a few hours -- with one substantial change. According to sources, the new version will be missing a caption below the actors playing Herb and Marion Sandler. In the original, the caption read "People who should be shot."

Amid a growing blogosphere hullabaloo about the missing skit, NBC Universal released a statement to explain its position: "Upon review, we caught certain elements in the sketch that didn't meet our standards. We took it down and made some minor changes and it will be back online soon."

NBC didn't elaborate about what changes it was making, nor did it say whether it was acting on a complaint from any of the people who were satirized. George Soros denied it was him, and we have some trouble imagining Nancy Pelosi getting up in arms about her depiction by the fresh-faced Kristen Wiig.

We speculated earlier that it was probably the Sandlers who complained. The couple didn't return a message left at their San Francisco foundation asking for comment earlier today.

Then again, they might feel they have good reason to steer clear of the media this week.

by Sophia Banay

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