Season 51 of Saturday Night Live wasted no time in skewering Donald Trump in the opening minutes with a sketch mocking the president’s recent claims of ending all wars, late-night TV gripes, and connection to Jeffrey Epstein in a fiery, cold open.
It’s a tense time for late-night shows — Stephen Colbert’s CBS show has been cancelled and Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily kicked off air by ABC for misstating facts about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month.
Within minutes of SNL kicking off, cast members took on the Trump administration’s targeting of free speech on late-night TV shows.
“We are facing the greatest threat to democracy the world has ever known,” Colin Jost, playing “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, said.
“Late night TV!” James Austin Johnson, playing Trump, cut in.
In front of a massive American flag as the backdrop, “Trump” said: “I’m just keeping an eye on SNL, making sure they don’t do anything too mean about me.”
He continued: “And I know late-night TV like the back of my hand,” showing a make-up covered hand in reference to the president’s bruised hand that has caused speculation about his health.
“Remember: Daddy’s watching!” he added.
The skit also hit Trump’s recent false claims that he has “settled seven” wars since returning to the White House. “I ended all the wars. Every single one of them — except the two main ones that are still happening and are more vicious than ever,” the actor quipped.
Earlier in the sketch, Jost mocked Hegseth’s speech to military leaders this past week, in which he said it was “completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals.”
Jost joked that the military needs “hot shredded hairless men who are definitely not gay,” he said. “No fat chicks! And if you’re a fat dude, you must be funny as hell.”
“May every day be another wonderful secret,” Johnson told Jost, as he interrupted. “That was a quote from a poem I wrote to a horrible man I’ve never met before.”
The actor was quoting Trump’s alleged 50th birthday card to Epstein, that the president has denied writing. The president has sued the Wall Street Journal for publishing the contents of the card. Congress published the card last month after it was handed over by the deceased sex offender’s estate. Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The show’s host Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, then delivered his monologue, joking that “everyone” is happy that he was picked to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show after it was announced earlier this week and incensed some conservatives.
“I’m doing the SuperBowl halftime show. I’m very happy and I think everyone is very happy about it, even Fox News,” the Puerto Rican superstar quipped. Then a montage of clips of Fox News hosts played, showing each speaking one word to collectively say: “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician. He should be the next president.”
MAGA supporters had expressed anger over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl selection, pointing to the musician’s recent remarks that he would not be performing at U.S. venues during his 2025-2026 tour over fears that Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents “could be outside” his concert venues and target fans. Some also fumed that most of his set will be in Spanish.
From the SNL stage on Saturday, the singer then spoke in Spanish during his opening monologue. In part, he said: “Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it,” according to a translation by the Hollywood Reporter.
Switching back to English, the musician concluded: “And, if you didn’t understand now what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
SNL has caused a stir even before the premiere aired Saturday when several long-standing cast members announced they would not be returning. SNL creator Lorne Michaels stood by the shake-up, telling Puck last week: “Change is good. The people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”
Trump was silent on his favorite means of communication, social media platform Truth Social, during the show. Earlier in the evening, he had weighed in on another media issue, demanding that TelevisaUnivision be returned to YouTubeTV, after it was removed over a contract dispute, because it was “VERY BAD for Republicans.”
