News: Andy Samberg (of “Lazy Sunday” fame) had a hilarious digital short on SNL this week with an impersonator for Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. NBC posted the skit on YouTube, but has since taken it down (see here). But NBC has apparently allowed other clips of the skit on YouTube, see below.
October 2, 2007 at 2:56 pm |
This case has been so confusing. NBC pulls it off YouTube, but leaves the skit up on their website with a Connection Error message. NBC allows commenting below the frame, which is filling up with “What’s going on?” messages. So far, no response from NBC.
It feels like the NBC PR dept is paralyzed just staring at each other saying, “oh no, what do we do, what do we do?” and have ended up doing nothing.
If you’re taking it down, fine. The first lesson in any college PR class though is you must communicate with your audience. At least tell people what’s going on.
It’s all so interesting, this leveraging of content versus the openess of Internet.
I did hear a rumor somewhere out there that they sampled a song in the skit without permission. Who knows.
October 2, 2007 at 5:44 pm |
I heard the bit about the song sample, too. My guess is NBC realizes what a draw SNL’s digital shorts are and hopes to make them a selling point for Hulu.
October 2, 2007 at 9:08 pm |
It’s so funny to me how networks can’t recognize that big traffic on the Web is a GOOD THING. Once the science is down on measuring it and a rating system can be established, maybe then the networks will decide to keep up with a trend and start taking advantage of the Web.
October 20, 2007 at 1:33 am |
The song they sampled was Aphex Twin’s Avril 14th. They also parodied lyrics from Flock of Seagull’s I Ran. It’s sad to see NBC attempt to prevent the masses from seeing this short. It’s such a funny and creative skit.