Chloe Fineman is a 37-year-old comedian and actress, best known for being a Saturday Night Live cast member since 2019. She’s also known for her impressions. Well, a few weeks ago, Chloe and several SNL cast members did a Vanity Fair video where they were playing various made-up games. That’s what many magazines are doing now, creating digital/video content as opposed to conducting old-fashion print interviews. Well, this VF video quickly went off the rails as Chloe spoke about why she was fired as a camp-counselor when she was a teenager. It’s not just that Chloe freely admitted a pretty horrifying story about what she did to a six-year-old child, it’s that Vanity Fair then edited the video to remove the worst parts after a week of online backlash.
A Vanity Fair clip featuring the cast of Saturday Night Live has gone viral after it was edited to remove specific details and some awkward cast reactions to Chloe Fineman’s shocking tale of being fired as a camp counselor in her youth.
Vanity Fair’s video features Fineman alongside Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla, Jane Wickline and James Austin Johnson as they test one another in an episode of the mag’s game show series, this one titled “SNL Cast Test How Well They Know Each Other.” One segment finds Fineman polling her colleagues to guess the job she got fired from and later rehired by with a bonus question of “Why was I fired?”
Day jokes it was for “racially insensitive comments” while Sherman guesses that Fineman was sacked from a restaurant for a bad attitude. Padilla asks how old she was at the time, and Fineman offers that she was 16. Then she tells the tale. “I was fired as a camp counselor,” Fineman says. “I pantsed a boy. He would lift my shirt all the time. It was a different time. He would be like, ‘Hey, could I have a hug?’ And then I’d go to hug him and he’d lift my shirt, like a dick. And then I was like, ‘I’m going to get back at you.’ And so we were on a hike and I was like, ‘Hey, Ollie, go look over there. It’s a hawk.’ He looked and then I yanked his pants down, and then I was fired.”
That’s how the clip currently plays out on Vanity Fair’s YouTube channel. However, eagle-eyed viewers noted that it’s not the same clip that was originally posted as that version has Fineman detailing that the young camper was 6 years old and when she pulled his pants down, his “little ding-a-ling was out.” Her colleagues appear floored by the story and in response, Padilla, who looks especially shocked, responds by saying, “Oh, honey, I think you’re on a list somewhere.”
It’s unclear if Vanity Fair responded to online backlash or a publicist’s request to remove the more salacious parts of the story or the awkward cast reactions. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a rep for the magazine for comment.
There are so many levels to this controversy. First, there’s the story itself, which Fineman never should have told or presented in such a jokey way. And obviously, she never should have done that to a child! Jesus. Two, why didn’t Vanity Fair immediately see the problem and edit it out before initially posting it? And by going back and re-editing the video after the backlash, VF has just Streisand-Effect’d their mess and Chloe Fineman’s mess. My god. I’m including the original clip below – to their credit, the other SNL cast members seemed absolutely horrified by Fineman’s story. “It was a different time” – girl it was 2005???
For those who haven’t seen the clip: pic.twitter.com/4ND1diftfk
— César (@delicaterocks) April 5, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 29: Chloe Fineman at the 2024 WWD Honors at Cipriani South Street in New York City on October 29, 2024. Copyright: xMediaPunchx,Image: 928275276, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/MediaPunch/Avalon
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- MUSEUM ROW, MIRACLE MILE, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – MARCH 15: Chloe Fineman wearing Kallmeyer arrives at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party (98th Annual Academy Awards) Hosted By Mark Guiducci held at the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at 5905 Wilshire Blvd on March 15, 2026 in Museum Row, Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 1083795153, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Chloe Fineman, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
I was wondering if you would cover this! My god this was the cringiest thing ever and kudos to the rest of the cast for automatically knowing that, no, this story was not OK (Bless you Ashley Padilla). And yes, why didn’t VF edit this out? Now by removing the content they have totally Streisanded this which maybe was the point? Talk about a story that should not have been told (or should have happened). Chloe always seemed a bit unhinged tbh
Also Jane Wickline cringing out in the background with Mikey day burying his face in the front. THIS could almost be an snl sketch.
Like if it wasn’t so awful but more like the Jenna Ortega cat story sketch where everyone else is just like stahhhpp….
They shouldn’t have run any piece of this.
My 16 year old works with 6 year old kids at camp- and she tells stories of the kids’ behaving badly but she has never spoken about getting back at them, pulling their pants down or embarrassing them in any way bc she understands they are children and they do really dumb stuff.
But as an adult, and telling this story as if it is funny – the fact that she still does not understand why that story makes her look bad, is eye opening. No self awareness. Bad on her.
Where were the adults at the camp? A sixteen year old is still a child. She should have been getting adult supervision as well.
There are so many questions…was this six year olds behavior reported to adults? Why didn’t they nip it in the bud and correct the child’s behavior?
Not condoning pantsing a six year old, but in a sixteen year olds brain, how does one stop a child from inappropriately lifting people’s shirts up?
I see the problem with the adults at the camp, not sixteen year old Cloe.
Wait, what?
What are you talking about? A 16-year-old in charge of children is not “a child.” She was in the wrong, period. She explicitly says they were on a hike – which means this was premeditated – when she could have made a thousand other choices, including asking to let someone else supervise him or even send him home. Instead, she sexually abused and humiliated him in front of the other kids.
Thought experiment: If it was a 16-year-old boy who pantsed a 6-year-old girl, he would have gone to jail and probably never allowed to work with kids again, much less be “rehired.”
Let’s not excuse horrible behavior because she was female. She knew exactly what she was doing and she used the story later for gags – and it backfired.
She deserves all the blowback she’s getting.
Camps are generally staffed by teenagers. I went to sleep away camp where the person in charge was usually about 19 years old. The only adults onsite worked in the canteen to make sure there wasn’t a food poisoning outbreak.
@Anon, a 16-year-old is still a child, regardless of what she is doing,whether you like it or not.
@ANON..
yes 16 is a child too. I find it interesting that you now calling this child an adult. If we deem her a child in cases of statutory r*pe, then she is a child. We don’t move the hoal posts because she did a terrible thing, she’s still a child.
She was a 16-yr old child who made a very bad choice that hurt a much much younger child. The bigger issue is also the fact that she’s now an adult telling this story like its a joke as opposed to reflecting on how it could’ve been handled differently.
All we’ve talked about since Epstein is that 16 IS a child and you’re a pedo for dating one or having sex with one. She absolutely should’ve been fired. But the problem is she’s an adult now who thinks it’s hilarious to retell.
“A different time”? Are you kidding me? That seems to be the answer these days for some pretty horrific behavior!!!
Previous generations have always used that excuse for a history of isms and bad behavior. But 2005, I was a full grown adult and remember it well. We didn’t have smart phones yet, but we were web savvy and vigorously fighting for LGBT rights. Schools very much had entered the era of anti bullying campaigns.
In 2005 as now, reporting the 6 year olds behavior to camp leadership would have resulted in a teaching opportunity for the child. Not public humiliation.
I’m not watching the clip. I wish I hadn’t read the story. Until now, I had never heard of this person and I’m just going back to that blissful ignorance.
It was probably a Scientology camp.
She’s a cult member.
They teach that you’re not really a victim of abuse, if you were abused it was because you did something to bring the abuse into your life.
So yeah, this tracks.
Yup. She says this was a “different time” in Berkeley. She is second gen Scientologist so that totally tracks
I’d be surprised that a Scientology camp would fire her for mistreating a child, though. That’s what they do.
I had no idea she was a cultist. I’ve always liked her but now she’s in the Elizabeth Moss pile for me.
I don’t get the Berkeley connection, though. Is it known for Scientology??
Berkeley is not a bastion of Scientology. It’s pretty easy to google that she was fired from JCC, a Jewish summer camp.
Like Sue said…
@Sunnee – After I posted I saw that Wiki says she was raised Jewish with no mention of Co$. Then I asked Siri who said she’s second gen Co$ – but that doesn’t really correlate with her father being a scientist. Possibility it’s just an unsubstantiated rumor? AI SUX!
Either way the camp story is probably going to haunt her now.
Her parents are David Fineman, a biotech CEO, and Ellen Gunn, an artist. Both are listed in Scientology’s own publications as Clears. But others have said the family is Jewish.
according to scientology, they are “compatible” with other religions. so they *could* be Jewish and scientologists… There are others who are catholic and scientologists, etc
That’s pretty incompatible with both Judaism and science, though. I don’t know how one finds names in the CO$ database but there’s a real chance this isn’t true.
What a terrible story, jeez. But retelling it like it’s so hilarious? There’s a missing chip somewhere. It was like The Drama but it wasn’t a thought issue, it was something she actually did.
In my mind, Vanity Fair isn’t being transparent. Chloe’s story is news- news about her and Vanity Fair should have written a piece on it albeit with a trigger warning
Cue apology, walking it back (saying she embellished the story for “laughs” and it backfired), and an absence from SNL for a while (or, perhaps, permanently). Who in their right mind would think people would find that story amusing?? 🤦🏻♀️
I thought this grouping was interesting because it showed who they obviously thought will be kept on next season. But I don’t think Lorne will like this and Chloe definitely risks being cut.
Chloe is white, blonde and pretty so I’d guess she’s safe? But this is pretty gross. Not sure how much Lorne cares though. SNL has gotten some criticism for lack of diversity this season so she could end up being the white girl on the chopping block. But idk, she might be fine?
Exactly.
Her demographic can do just about whatever they want, without consequences.
So when consequences show up, they clutch their pearls and start in with the white girl tears. Guaranteed, she’s still employed.
Lena Dunham is somewhere raising a toast.
They didn’t think Ego would quit but she did. What they need to do right now is to add several WOCs of color and not just one. Ashley and Jane are the standouts right now for completely different but great comedy genres. SNL has become so cut throat that Lorne is not even giving talented people a chance (Chloe troast, Michal Longfellow) But out of all the women those are my bet to stay. Cam and that Brennan guy are gone. Ben will get a second season and Jeremy is great so I hope they keep him. Sorry I’m an SNL nerd and even if it’s bad I will always watch it. That said the last couple of episodes have actually been great. They also need to program great hosts and not dudes
Don’t apologize! And yes agree so much on the fact they need to hire several WOC. And frankly add some more asian talent in now that Bowen is gone. Which means there has to be some cuts. They do need great hosts for sure but honestly they also need some more consistent writing.
She was fired for using her position of trust to get close to a child so she could humiliate him by exposing his genitals in front of his friends FOR REVENGE. Against a 6 year old!!!
Holy. Shit.
What the kid did would have upset me, I would have gone to a higher up and reported it and then started asking where he learned something like that and brought the family in.
But Scientology. So yeah. Abuse on abuse on abuse.
Yes she should have gone to a higher up and she could just stop giving him hugs like the first time that happened.
Seriously! I mean, why give him the second hug?
Also, who takes ‘revenge’ on a 6yo? Nothing about this is funny.
Why would Vanity Fair think that this video was appropriate to post in the first place? One of them guessing that she was being fired for being racially insensitive was just bad on its own.
Holy crap. What is wrong with her????
The reason we KNOW it wasn’t “a different time” is because she got FIRED for it!
In the full video, she then says they re-hired her!?!
Well, she has rich parents, so…the rehiring part tracks.
One incident over 20 years ago when she was also a child. Not a proud moment but also a one time mistake.
A child of 16 in a position of power over other children much younger than her. Which she has chosen to retell for laffs as a full-grown adult. “I was a bully, but it was cute, oops!” is not a good look at any age.
Sure but then why tell it as some sort of cute and funny anecdote for VF? Bc yikes!
She wasn’t a child when she told the story on video and giggled about a SIX YEAR OLD being humiliated because his “little ding a ling” was exposed. What she did as a 16-year-old who held a position of power over a first grader was bad enough. Thinking it’s a hilarious anecdote as an adult demonstrates something is seriously wrong with her.
I don’t disagree that it could have been, would have been for most, one of those shameful, cringey memories from our teen or college years that pops up at 3am randomly long into middle-aged.
But she told that story, in public, to the media, in front of her co-workers, thinking it was funny (and that they would think it, and she, was funny for doing it).
That’s what separates this incident from the kind of mistakes we make when we are young and are embarrassed forever to remember we did. She was proud of it. Her friend group is probably telling her right now that people are so dramatic and unfair to her, and that she didn’t do anything wrong.
It all says so much about her and the world she inhabits.
I have three sons. I can’t imagine how humiliated and upset they would have been if this had happened to them. This is the kind of childhood trauma that can last for years. Unfortunately it’s also the kind of event that can become a permanent group memory…”Remember that time when Billy pulled down Mike’s pants?”
I’ve always liked Chloe on SNL but over the last several months I’ve read some interviews or other articles that started giving me a bit of ick about her and I can’t remember what exactly it was or even if it was fair. Like, it was enough that I remember thinking, oh, I wish I’d never known anything about her. This, however, is a big, totally fair, ick for me. Even if the kid had been her age I’d be grossed out because that is serious mean girl bully behaviour.
Yeah, her $cientology is starting to show….
First off I did not know Chloe was a Scientologist. How frustrating.
As a former camp counselor this story makes me groan. At 16 she would have been a CIT (Counselor in Training)/Junior Counselor, not a full on counselor. She probably wasn’t even getting paid (CITs rarely get paid). I worked at one camp where a male staff member got fired for roughhousing a male camper (I can’t remember exactly what happened but the male counselor pushed or tackled the kid and he fell to the ground or something like that). It was witnessed by a visiting adult for Family Camp and reported to the camp director so he was fired. This was in 2008 so right around the time Chloe was working at camp.
She said she was rehired but I doubt she was rehired the same summer. She was probably rehired the following summer. This isn’t unheard of for camps to give people second chances and to come back the next summer depending on what happened. The camper in question clearly needed to be taught about keeping his hands to himself by his parents and what was appropriate and inappropriate physical behavior. Chloe was young and clearly stupid but she still shouldn’t have done what she did. And had she told the story from a “I’m not proud of what I did” perspective it would have been different. But she clearly thought this was an amusing anecdote to share which is disappointing.
Yet another reason to avoid this publication like the plague … which I’ve been doing for years anyway. I’ll never forgive them for featuring Scam Markle and saying “she’s very educated” when she’s an ignorant trailer-trash boor.
Yes 16 year-olds are children and yes they make mistakes. It doesn’t sound that horrible to me, frankly. What’s weirder though is that openly hating Scientologists and white women seems to be rather socially acceptable here.
Whaaaa? The biggest issue is that she told this story to VF as something cute and funny when it wasn’t. That’s a weird choice to make. But also, don’t people have fair reasons for having issues with scientology? And also, almost every thumbnail for every article currently on this site is a white woman, minus Meghan, or a political one. Take your pick between Emerald Fennel, Elizabeth Banks, Dolly Parton, Sophia Coppola or Shiloh Jolie. White women are platformed which is apparently very socially acceptable.
Nope, Chloe shouldn’t have told that story. It wasn’t funny, and nor is she on SNL!
First off, she was 16, people saying she was an adult are weird. Put that aside, this was messed up and why didn’t she tell anyone that the kid was lifting her shirt? Whole story sounded awful and I can’t believe she told it and thought it was funny.
This is abuse of a child…pure and simple. It’s not cute or funny. It’s serious and the fact that she still doesn’t know that (since she told the story to be funny) is why she needs to be fired. If this story was gender reversed, she would have already been fired.
Finding out she is a Scientologist explains a lot…..
16 is a child. I agree with that. And it sucked that she did that (hopefully the kid still had his underwear on) and they did fire her at camp. I see no reason why she should be fired from SNL too. Don’t you think your president has done far, far, far worse things (and is attempting to obliterate a whole civilization tonight)? Remember that he is a convicted rapist and people still don’t know what he did to children when with his good friend Epstein. So, yes, fire the stupid girl for doing something stupid and immature when she was a child herself. Punish the women first!!!
According to Chloe, who thought this was quite funny, the child’s “little ding a ling” was exposed. She’s a full ass grown adult who thinks assaulting a child is an amusing anecdote to recount on video. You realize it’s possible to be grossed out and outraged out by her behavior and feel the same to an even bigger degree at the orange menace? Or do you think because a rapist is in the Oval Office no one else can be held accountable for their behavior? Seriously?
It sounds like maybe you did not read the story. The child did not have on his underwear.
Even though she was a kid herself, that was straight up bullying a much younger child. She sought out to punish a child who was acting out against her. Did she even tell the supervisors over her?
And then to retell the story and laugh about this abuse on camera is crazy work.
They allowed Heidi Gardner to go and kept this one? That’s unfortunate.
I think 16 years old is too old to be cruel to a 6 year old even if she was a child herself. The age gap is too large at that age. I was expecting to read she pantsed another 16 year old, not a 6 year old. I think it’s likely all of us have been mean at some point at 16, without realizing it, to….kids our own age. But not to a 6 year old. The age difference makes the bullying seem a lot stranger..
Why didn’t she just go to a supervisor? They probably had some kind of handbook you could refer to. 2005 isn’t the 1960s… I’m sure they must have had a handbook…
Anyway, none of us would know this story if she hadn’t told it. It’s her fault for telling it….