Faye Dunaway might soon bring the rage of one-thousand wire hangers to the Saturday Night Live set.
Emmy-nominated SNL cast member and Fire Island star Bowen Yang — who posts on Instagram under his @fayedunaway handle — has revealed that the Oscar-winning Hollywood legend is aware of his social media presence and definitely (maybe) wants to do something about it.
“There’s a new development in this,” Yang said Wednesday on Live With Kelly and Ryan. “As of, like, two weeks ago, I’ve gotten word that she knows about me having the handle and she does actually want to come on SNL and confront me on live television.”
Rich Fury/Getty Images; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic Bowen Yang says Faye Dunaway wants to come on ‘SNL’ to confront him about his @fayedunaway Instagram handle.
Hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest seemed stunned over the news, and pressed him on what exactly such a meeting might look like.
“She wants it to be, like, maybe on [Weekend] Update,” Yang explained. “She gets brought out to talk about her social media handle being co-opted by this random Asian guy.”
Ripa then suggested that Dunaway could reprise her role as Joan Crawford from the camp-classic biopic Mommie Dearest, with Yang dressing up in drag as her daughter, Christina.
“I did not want this because I was like, truly, just some plebeian in Brooklyn,” Yang said of his decision to claim the handle before he rose to prominence on the comedy scene. “[I thought], best-case scenario, her people reach out to me and give me like $20 and I give it to her. But, now…. there’s a blue check next to my name. People might think that i’m the real Faye Dunaway!”
EW has reached out to representatives for Yang and Dunaway for more information.
Yang previously joked to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that he wants Dunaway to bring legal action against him for the handle.
“It’s interesting, but all I want is for Faye Dunaway — the real, Oscar-winning actress — to, like, sue me or something,” he said. “I would go to court. I would get locked into the longest battle with her. All I want is just a cease-and-desist. Faye Dunaway, legendary actress Faye Dunaway, all I want is for you to reach out to me and call me ‘that sniveling homosexual.'”
Dunaway made headlines in 2019 when she was sued by a former assistant who alleged that she called him “a little homosexual boy” — so Yang’s wish might not be that far off.
Fire Island premieres Friday on Hulu.
Hear more on all of today’s must-see picks on EW’s What to Watch podcast, hosted by Gerrad Hall.
Related content:
