An ‘S.N.L.’ Sketch Gives Harvey Epstein His 15 Minutes of Fame

Mr. Epstein, a state assemblyman who is running for New York City Council, had no idea he would be the subject of a skit watched by millions.

When Harvey Epstein went to sleep on Saturday night, he was a low-profile New York State assemblyman. When he woke up on Sunday morning, he was something of an internet celebrity.

Mr. Epstein was the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch this weekend that spoofed his name — a somewhat unfortunate mash-up of the names of two notorious sexual predators, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.

The show’s host, the comedian John Mulaney, starred as Harvey Epstein in a campaign ad featuring the candidate struggling to explain to voters that he is neither of the disgraced men. Harvey Epstein is running for the New York City Council in District 2, which includes Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side and parts of southeastern Manhattan.

“Look is my name ideal? Of course not,” Mr. Mulaney says in the sketch as he walks down a street in a bald cap and hoop earrings to mimic the assemblyman’s look. “I share names with two of the most notorious sex perverts of all time.”

He adds, “But thankfully, I’m a different guy.”

The camera pans to two lawn signs — one for Harvey Epstein and another that reads “No Relation.”

The real Harvey Epstein, who is a regular “S.N.L.” viewer, said in an interview on Sunday that he had no idea the sketch was planned. He went to bed Saturday night before the show aired and woke up very early Sunday to “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of text messages telling him to watch.

“So I watched it and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s me,’” he said. “It was, like, ridiculously funny. I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Mr. Epstein, a Democrat who has served in the State Assembly since 2018, is unopposed on the ballot this Tuesday for the Assembly, but he plans to give up that seat if he is elected to the Council.

He said that throughout his political career, people have often asked if he was related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who had to register as a sex offender and was charged with sex trafficking after he was accused of preying on girls as young as 14. He was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Others have confused the state assemblyman’s name with that of Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul who was convicted of sex crimes in California and New York. The New York conviction was overturned, and Mr. Weinstein was charged with a new sex crime in Manhattan last month.

In the wake of the publicity over the sketch, Harvey Epstein encouraged people to support survivors of sexual assault.

In a post on X on Sunday, he encouraged donations to an anti-sexual assault nonprofit. “All joking aside, I hope my newfound followers will consider donating to RAINN, who do extremely valuable work supporting survivors,” he wrote.

Mr. Epstein said he received at least 400 new followers on X on Sunday morning alone, momentum that he seized upon in a post sharing the sketch with a link to his City Council campaign donations page. He is gearing up for the Democratic primary for the Council seat in June.

“I’m 57 years old. I’ve been Harvey Epstein my whole life,” he said. “I have a really lovely reputation in the neighborhood, and people know me for who I am.”

He is running in a crowded primary to replace Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who is term-limited. He said he hopes to use his higher profile to drive home the issues at the core of his platform, including tenants’ rights.

Politics in the New York Region

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• Congestion Pricing: Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the resurrection of a congestion pricing program that would toll drivers who enter the busiest parts of Manhattan starting in January, but at discounted rates.
• Broker Fees: The New York City Council approved a bill to curb a loathed real estate practice of making renters pay thousands of dollars in broker fees, shifting the cost to landlords. Some brokers believe it will hurt tenants in the long run.
• Working With Trump: While other big state Democrats are reviving the resistance to President-elect Donald Trump, Hochul appears more inclined toward cooperation than combat — at least for now.
• A Rightward Shift: New York City has rarely been as liberal as the rest of the nation thinks it is, and the results of the presidential election clearly indicate that Trump made inroads.