Why Dakota Johnson Will Always Get a Free Pass on 'SNL'

Dakota Johnson hosted yesterday’s SNL and it was … well, it was better than the Jalen Brunson episode. She’s getting beat up on social media because all she does is dry monotone and skits about sex, but Scary Mean Girl was legit good, and I thought that vagina gun was amusing, too. And yes, she has hosted three times. But I don’t think it’s SNL necessarily trying to make DJ happen — she’s hosted 3 times over an 11-year period (meanwhile, this upcoming week’s host, Shane Gillis, is doing so for the third time in three years, and he’s always been lousy as an SNL host, which makes me think that if Lorne Michaels hadn’t fired him, he’d have washed out into obscurity in a season or two).

Anyway, the thing about Dakota Johnson on SNL is this: She’ll always get a pass for 1) standing up to Ellen DeGeneres, essentially nudging the rock over the hill of DeGeneres’ downfall, and 2) her Please Don’t Destroy sketch two years ago, which may be the best thing that Please Don’t Destroy ever did on SNL and is definitely the best thing that Dakota Johnson has done on SNL. The PDD guys got the brunt of the roasting, but DJ took a few rough hits, too. That skit earns her at least a decade of goodwill.