The “Saturday Night Live” cast has recently come under fire for its lack diversity. Lorne Michaels, creator and producer of SNL, hired six new cast members for this season, five men and one woman— all white.

While a person’s race does not effect how funny he or she is, a diverse cast is an opportunity for SNL to bring different perspectives on current events and pop culture to American televisions, and it is an opportunity they are missing.

The show faced this controversy head on when “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington hosted on Nov. 2. During the cold open, cast member Jay Pharoah plays President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Obama is taking a break from a party when first lady Michelle Obama, played by Washington, enters the room. The president tells the first lady that it has been a long time since he had seen her, referring to the last time the character of Michelle Obama was played by an SNL cast member in 2007.

After that, Obama says he misses Oprah, so Washington rushes off screen to change into her Oprah costume. As soon as Washington returns, Obama says he misses Beyoncé. After giving Obama some dirty looks, Washington runs off to change into her Beyoncé costume. The scene ends before Washington returns, but the point was still made. In its usual funny way, SNL apologized for its lack of diversity on the show.

The opening was funny, as was the rest of the show, but it showed how many missed opportunities that the show has missed for its lack of diversity.

For many years, when a skit included an African-American female character, the show’s only two black members— Pharoah and Kenan Thompson— had to dress up as a woman for the skits. Obviously this would not be a problem if there were actual black women to play Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg and other characters needed.

Since Pharoah and Thompson have said they will not dress in drag anymore, now SNL can have no black female characters in its skits. Pharoah and Thompson should have never had to do that in the first place.

While it didn’t need proving, Washington showed everyone that black women are funny, and they, along with other minorities, should be on SNL. Honestly, most of the new cast members are not funny; the only one who has shown some comedy chops is Beck Bennett, who many people may recognize from the AT&T commercials where he interviews children. The other five cast members should either be fired or moved to the writing staff, where the show seriously needs help.

These cast members should be replaced by people who are actually funny. There are tons of comedians out in the world who are worthy of SNL, like Retta who is currently on “Parks and Recreation”, another NBC show. Adding her to the cast would be great choice because she is a stand up comedian and she can act.

While there have been very few black women on the cast, SNL’s lack of Latino actors is even more shocking. During the show’s 39-year history there has been only one Latino, Horatio Sanz, that was a cast member.

For a show that has been at the forefront of American culture for many years this lack of diversity is quite appalling.

Maybe the best way to solve this is to let somebody else take over Michaels’ job, and there is no one better for that than former SNL cast member Tina Fey. Bringing Fey as the producer of SNL would bring a fresh breath of air to the show and could reinvigorate it.

As demographics are changing in America, so should SNL, or it risks slipping into irrelevance and essentially becoming the Republican Party of television.