Watch Lin-Manuel Miranda Brilliantly Portray Julián Castro on SNL

One week after Saturday Night Live disgracefully omitted the inclusion of presidential candidate Julián Castro in a comedy skit, a portrayal of the politician was finally realized. In Saturday’s episode, which featured Stranger Things star David Harbour, the 2020 presidential hopeful Castro was brilliantly played by the one, the only, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

We know it’s kind of bizarre for folks to be outraged about the fact that a Latino politician wasn’t made fun of on SNL, however, it’s simply because the Latinx community (which makes a huge portion of the voting population) deserve to be included in important pop-culture discourse. A week ago, when SNL featured all of the presidential candidates in a skit, and included author Marianne Williamson (who’s not running for president anymore FYI) but failed to include Castro who’s very much still a strong candidate — people expressed their anger and frustration on social media.

During a time when Latinx representation in Hollywood is abysmal, we have no other choice but demand inclusion everywhere else. So this past weekend, we were definitely ecstatic to see Miranda portray Castro, especially because he said he wanted to!

Last week when SNL excluded the portrayal of Castro from the skit, a few people raised their hand on social media tweeting that if SNL needed a Latino to play politician, they would gladly step up to the plate.

Man — I really thought I had landed that part.

But congratulations @Lin_Manuel, you did a great job! #SNL https://t.co/ZV9lsNIoev

— Joaquin Castro (@Castro4Congress) October 13, 2019

Castro’s twin brother, Joaquin Castro, said he would happily play his brother — which you know, is hilarious for many reasons, especially because they’re twins.

“Hi @nbcsnl , I’m available next time you need someone to play Julian Castro. I get mistaken for that guy all the time.”

Miranda said he would play him too, and SNL gave him the role! So how did he do? Amazing, of course.

The skit spoofed CNN’s Town Hall with the Democratic presidential candidates, which focused on several important issues, including LGBTQ rights. Miranda stepped on stage and said, “As a Democrat. I want to apologize for not being gay. But I promise to do better in the future.”

Miranda also said as Castro, “I’m young, I’m diverse, I’m Latino Obama. Let’s get that hashtag going.”

But the funniest part was toward the end when it looked as if Miranda was going to pull out his famous Hamilton role by doing a rap, but was stopped by Anderson Cooper.

Castro loved it, too! He tweeted his own Hamilton rap, “Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry, And I’m not throwing away my shot.”

Hey yo, I’m just like my country,
I’m young, scrappy and hungry,
And I’m not throwing away my shot. https://t.co/Sp8KMgc68q

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) October 13, 2019

Comedian Cristela Alonzo who was one of those that were previously livid at the SNL exclusion of Castro, tweeted this week, “Well well well…. @Lin_Manuel as @JulianCastro …on SNL. A positive Latino role model played by another positive Latino role model. Let’s celebrate this moment because it doesn’t happen very often.”

She’s right, and we’d like to celebrate more of these moments, please.

Watch the entire skit below: