SNL prepared jokes about Harvey Weinstein but shelved them

Critics were annoyed the show failed to touch on the huge Hollywood story

The co-founder of Miramax Films and Chapman have been married since 2007 (Getty)

Saturday Night Live has finally returned, Ryan Gosling and Gal Gadot having both impressed during their respective shows.

However, as many people have noticed, the often timely comedy show failed to address the ongoing allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

The Hollywood producer has been accused of numerous historical instances of sexual abuse, eventually being fired from his own film studio.

According to the New York Times, there were originally jokes about Weinstein in the show, but they were dropped last minute — according to someone closely associated with the show.

Critics who lambasted the show over not including the jokes were given more ammunition after creator Lorne Michaels reasoned there were no Weinstein jokes because: “It’s a New York thing.”

The person close to the production revealed there were jokes about the producer in the dress-rehearsal but were dropped before air-time because they fell flat with the studio audience.

Michaels’ “New York” comments were apparently meant to signify that only people in the city care about the story, rather than the entire nation who may not be familiar with the news.

Instead, the episode of SNL primarily tackled the Las Vegas shooting from the previous weekend. Jason Aldean, who was performing at the festival where the incident took place, performed on the episode.