'Crazy Rich Asians' Star Awkwafina Will Debut As 'Saturday Night Live' Host

Fans are jazzed about the provocative rapper/actress taking the "SNL" stage.
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Awkwafina, breakout star of “Crazy Rich Asians,” will make her first “Saturday Night Live” appearance on Oct. 6 as the show’s host.

The 29-year-old rapper and actress shared the news by retweeting a brief “SNL” schedule on Thursday. She’s slated to host the second episode of the show’s 44th season, which begins Sept. 29. Grammy-nominated rapper Travis Scott will be the featured musician of the program.

Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, got her first break in 2012 with her viral hit “My Vag”a track she made while working at a vegan bodega for $9 an hour.

The actress is now riding high after playing Goh Peik Lin in “Crazy Rich Asians,” the runaway hit based on Kevin Kwan’s bestselling book of the same name. The movie also stars Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding and Constance Wu, and is the first Hollywood film in 25 years to feature a contemporary, almost entirely Asian cast. It follows a Chinese-American economics professor who struggles to make a good impression on her Singaporean boyfriend’s mega-wealthy and judgmental family.

In an interview with HuffPost last year, Awkwafina praised the actors and activists who are boosting Asians’ presence in Hollywood.

“With all the things that are happening, this is a woke time, and whether Hollywood likes it or not, they’re going to have to change things up,” she said.

Past Asian “SNL” hosts have included Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan and Aziz Ansari. “SNL” fans on Twitter went wild when they heard that Awkwafina will be hosting the program.

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