Oscar-winning actor Mikey Madison, who hosted the latest episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL), appeared in a sketch that ridiculed the Signal group chat leak furor and also took a swipe at former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz.
Newsweek reached out to Gaetz for comment via a spokesperson for One America News, a network on which the former congressman hosts a show.
Why It Matters
Gaetz, a former representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district between 2017 and 2024, was forced to drop out of consideration for the role as President Donald Trump‘s attorney general because of allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
The former congressman, a hard-line Republican and Trump loyalist, became part of a Department of Justice federal sex-trafficking investigation in the final months of the president’s first administration. Among the allegations made against Gaetz was that he had paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2017—which he has strongly denied.
What to Know
Gaetz was never charged in the sex-trafficking investigation against him, and to this day he insists he did not do anything wrong. In a social media post published on X, formerly Twitter, in December 2024, he said he was “fully exonerated” and “the people investigated hated me.”
He wrote: “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated—even some I never dated, but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court—which is why no such claim was ever made in court.
“My 30s were an era of working very hard—and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
But the allegations made against him keep haunting the former congressman, as proven by the latest SNL episode.
In the sketch aired on Saturday, Madison plays a high schooler—Jennabelle—texting her girlfriends when their group chat is suddenly crashed by Andrew Dismukes, playing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, announcing plans to bomb Yemen.
Bowen Yang, playing Vice President JD Vance, also joins the chaotic group chat from an icy Greenland before Madison announces that she has to leave because “Matt is here to pick me up. I’m going to a movie.”
Dismukes then asks: “Who? Gaetz?” And Madison responds: “Actually, yes.”
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social last year when Matt Gaetz withdrew his name for consideration for attorney general: “He was doing very well, but at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”
During a visit to Trump’s campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, in September 2024, a heckler asked Gaetz: “What’s the youngest schoolgirl you’ve ever been with and have you ridden on the ‘Lolita Express?’”
The “Lolita Express” refers to the infamous private jet belonging to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was allegedly used to fly underage girls to some of the late financier’s properties.
Republican Texas Representative Tony Gonzales told CNN last year: “I served with some real scumbags. Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”
What’s Next
Gaetz had won reelection for his Congress seat before resigning to be considered as Trump’s attorney general. Now that he is officially off the political stage, he is hosting The Matt Gaetz Show on One America News Network.
The post ‘SNL’ Cold Open Takes Swipe at Matt Gaetz in Sketch Ridiculing Signal Leak appeared first on Newsweek.
