Saturday Night Live‘s’ cold open was labeled “tone deaf” by viewers amid the ongoing Minneapolis ICE violence and in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti.
On Saturday, January 25, the SNL cold open featured James Austin Johnson reprising his role as President Donald Trump as a host, presenter, and winner at the “Trump Awards.”
“It’s truly an honor to be here hosting the Trumps,” the POTUS declared at the beginning of the segment. “After that lady, whose name I already forget, gave me her Nobel Peace Prize, I thought, ‘I need more awards.’”
Trump added, “And after what all of my little freaks and psychos in ICE have been doing, I need more distractions. Look! Everything’s gold and shiny.”
On Reddit, many viewers slammed the NBC sketch comedy series for not addressing the increasingly aggressive ICE presence in Minnesota. Some also criticized host Teanna Taylor’s SNL monologue, which also failed to mention the deaths of Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.
“I get that SNL has many moving parts, but after today’s news, I just feel like they made some really bad choices,” one Redditor wrote. “Starting with another Trump Cold Open filled with ICE jokes and them immediately starting a monologue bragging about how wealthy you are, flaunting an expensive birthday party and expensive house in Miami is just so incredibly tone-deaf and egotistical.”
Another viewer shared, “I am a Minneapolis resident and lifelong Minnesotan. Today was one of the saddest days I’ve experienced in a long time. To have basically no mention of the absolute horror of today and the past month is a slap in the face. Feels like we’re really on our own out here.”
A different Redditor commented, “I’ve been watching since the first season. Fifty years. The way they’re handling current political events is making me consider something I’ve never done: quitting the show. … They’re no longer even the mild counterculture force they once were — they are the establishment.”
Someone else replied, “Tonight wasn’t just a ‘bad episode’ — it was a loud, glittering middle finger to everyone struggling right now. While the world is on fire, they chose to pour champagne on it and call it ‘comedy.’”
Yet another viewer wrote, “I don’t think anybody is asking them to make jokes about it. Or even to speak critically about it. But only to acknowledge it. There’s a way to do it successfully, they’ve done it many times before. They have a live broadcast being beamed into homes around the world… it’s not crazy to expect them to do something with that.”
Meanwhile, a different SNL viewer pointed out, “It felt very out of touch like everyone pretending everything today didn’t happen. Very weird.”
Saturday Night Live, Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC
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