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Natalie Portman defended the Star Wars prequels in an SNL rap

Natalie Portman's appearances on SNL in 2006 and 2018 are both epic, thanks to Lonely Island writing her two raps in which she defends the Star Wars prequels

Natalie Portman

Queen Amidala herself, Natalie Portman, has made two memorable appearances on Saturday Night Live. The first was in 2006, not long after she attended Harvard University and starred in a certain trilogy of Star Wars movies. The second was in 2018, after she’d “matured a lot.”

Firstly, we must issue a warning that there are some explicit lyrics ahead. In her first SNL appearance, Portman rapped about not being a role model to little kids dressed as Padme, “all the kids looking up to me can suck my dick!” She also confessed; “When I was at Harvard, I smoked weed every day, I cheated every test, And snorted all the yay.” The Lonely Island wrote the rap, and Andy Samberg (who of course starred in 2016’s Popstar!) has a cameo as Carl the Viking in the video.

When she appeared on SNL in 2018, Portman had changed a lot. She was now an Oscar-winning actress, as well as a wife, mother, and activist, so therefore her appearance would surely be different, right? Well, no. Asked if she finds it difficult juggling kids and a career, she responded; “You can juggle these nuts!”

The interviewer, Beck Bennett, makes the mistake of asking; “have you seen the new Star Wars movies?” To which Portman responds that she hasn’t. Bennett says; “Oh, well they’re really good! They’re much better than…” To which Portman asks; “Better than what?”

She then breaks into another verse of her epic rap, while dressed in her Amidala regalia; “Say something ’bout the motherfucking prequels, bitch! (They were good!) Say something fucking nice about Jar-Jar Binks (He’s tall?) Now kiss him right on his seventeen dicks (What?) While I sit there on your face and take a shit!”

Samberg’s Carl the Viking makes a reappearance, asking Natalie to acknowledge the child she’s left with him. The interview concludes with Portman sticking a “Time’s Up” pin in Bennett’s forehead.

Since 2018, the prequels have had something of a reappraisal, and by the time Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor were on the publicity tour for Obi-Wan Kenobi – they were greeted with a lot of warmth and nostalgia. The kids who watched the prequels have now grown up, meaning that they are viewed differently.

Check out our guide to the best Star Wars characters.