“Weekend Update” quickly focused on newly elected President Donald Trump and those around him, from RFK Jr. to Elon Musk to Matt Gaetz.
But of course, Saturday Night Live’s fake news opened with a segment on the healthcare CEO’s killer story that has roiled the nation since United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was brutally gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4. “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost noted that the country is involved “in the delicate, sensitive debate over who will play this man in the Netflix miniseries.”
Jost also noted that while the accused shooter, Luigi Mangione, is suspected of hostility toward corporate America, the facts of the case do not match. “Yet before the shooting, he went to Starbucks and was caught at a McDonald’s — perhaps his biggest crime was hypocrisy,” Jost said.
Jost and his co-host Michael Che then exchanged statements about Trump and his associates. Jost noted that Trump was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year, noting that the recognition was fitting because “no one has taken so much of our time.”
Che responded earlier this week to the news that controversial former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz is moving to One America Network to host a political talk show. Gaetz resigned under pressure from an ongoing ethics investigation. Last month, he was forced to step down as Trump’s attorney general after it became clear that Gaetz, who has been accused of sexual conduct with underage girls, did not win Senate support for confirmation despite Trump’s enthusiastic support.
Gaetz’s new OAN series will cover “everything from quinceañeras to prom jitters,” Che said.
Among other political barbs:
About RFK Jr.’s efforts to end polio vaccine mandates, Che joked, “Because it’s not Christmas without a few Tiny Tims.”
On Elon Musk declaring that Trump and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg agreed on the issue of abortion, he said, “I didn’t even know Trump got her pregnant.”
About Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who fulfilled her dream of appearing on Broadway with her one-time performance in the musical “& Juliet,” Che said it happened “while [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas blew everyone off the stage in ‘Kinky Boots’. ”
The “Weekend Update” segment also featured lengthy segments with cast members Andrew Dismukes and Jane Wickline. Dismukes addressed the court ruling from Great Britain that received attention this week with its decision that calling a man bald is tantamount to harassment. Wickline delivered one of her signature songs that capitalized on Sabrina Carpenter and Wickline’s attempt to fuel internet rumors about her sexuality to boost her career.
“Many people on the Internet love to spread juicy rumors about whether pop stars are gay. When will even one person do that about me,” Wickline sang.