The Nashville Predators are catching strays from one of the most popular television shows of all time.
NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” aired a sketch on Nov. 1 that featured the Predators, mocking the team’s name for its unfortunate double-meaning.
In the sketch, players from three teams, including the Predators, are shooting a promo for the NHL’s charity work in the community. The Predators representative, played by host Miles Teller, leads by saying “I’m a Predator in my community. When you see this face, just know that a Predator is in the community.”
The Predators player attempts to stop the promo multiple times because of “how it sounds,” but the skit continues. He’s forced to read unfortunately phrased sentences like “as a Nashville Predator, I work in a hospital to make sick kids feel touched.” At one point, he’s standing in front of a child, who says “this is the Predator who forever altered the course of my life.”
The inspiration for the sketch likely came from an unfortunate moment during the team’s charity work over the summer. On July 2, the Predators posted images of players wearing “Preds in the community” shirts, which raised eyebrows among those on social media.
“Do y’all want a better marketing lead?” one commenter wrote. Another added “someone call Chris Hansen,” who hosted “To Catch a Predator,” a reality TV show from 2004-07.
The team responded to “Saturday Night Live early” in the morning hours of Nov. 2 in a post on X. Referencing a popular internet meme spawned from the HBO series “Euphoria” they replied: “Wait is this f– play about us?”
While modern associations with the word “predator” are an unfortunate reality, the origins of Nashville’s team name are quite benign.
In 1971, construction crews found the remains of a long-extinct, saber-toothed cat during blasting along 4th and Union. The discovery of the ancient predator, which included a nine-inch long fang, was displayed downtown for nearly 30 years, until it was finally immortalized with the naming of the city’s NHL franchise in 1997.
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Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at [email protected]. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ‘Saturday Night Live’ mocks Nashville Predators in sketch, team responds
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