There’s apparently no hard feelings between Thompson and SNL overlord Lorne Michaels, which is cool; Thompson worked more than a decade on a TV institution, and Michaels had a go-to guy for portraying black and/or Latino athletes on an often not-diverse-whatsoever cast.
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Last season, “SNL” added Sasheer Zamata, which meant that Thompson could stop playing black women, as he’d done for years — Maya Angelou being one.
As far as athletes are concerned, Thompson has done David Ortiz …
… and Barry Bonds …
… and Charles Barkley, once opposite the actual Charles Barkley as Shaquille O’Neal …
… and Ray Lewis and James Harrison and “Refrigerator” Perry and O.J. Simpson and Sammy Sosa and maybe some more; he’s done more than 100 impressions overall, often out of obnoxious necessity.
All that said, Thompson should be remembered first and foremost as DeAndre Cole. May he and best friend Lindsey Buckingham eventually enjoy their newfound time together.
