The Season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live ripped into the Trump administration’s recent crackdown on free speech in the late-night TV industry.
Concerns about Trump interfering with late-night TV ramped up in September after the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a decision made by ABC after an apparent threat from Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr.
“[Saturday Night Live] better be on their best behavior,” said James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump in the cold open. “Otherwise they’ll have to answer to my attack dog at the FCC, Brandon Carr.”
Brendan Carr, played by Mikey Day, walked on stage while creepily dancing to “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell.
After the music ended, Carr told Trump that his name was Brendan, not Brandon.
Trump replied, “It’s crazy you think I care.”
Later in the cold open Trump said to the camera, “Thank you, SNL crew, for your hard work and your votes.“
Referring to the show’s only Latino cast member, Marcello Hernández, Trump said, “You fellas are gonna keep an eye on Marcelo for me, right?”
The camera nodded up and down in response.
“Fantastic,” Trump said. “And remember: Daddy’s watching!”
The cold open comes after several major shake-ups in the late-night industry.
Two months after the SNL season 50 finale, Stephen Colbert announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would be canceled entirely.
In September Jimmy Kimmel’s show was pre-empted by ABC for several days, apparently due to him making comments that the Trump administration found offensive.
Although Kimmel’s show returned, the incident spurred concerns from SNL fans that the NBC show would soften its criticisms of Trump out of fear of FCC retribution.
The cold open, however, seemed designed to quell those fears.
“Well, I had a great summer. Took a little vacation time for golf and travel and stroke‚” Trump said, in a reference to the rumors of the president’s age-related declining health.
“Kidding,” Trump said, “Or not. Either way, you’ll never know.”
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