White House reacts to "SNL" mocking President Donald" "Trump's war on latenight in cold open Shania RussellOctober 6, 2025 at 4:14 AM 2.
- - White House reacts to "SNL" mocking President Donald" "Trump's war on late-night in cold open
Shania RussellOctober 6, 2025 at 4:14 AM
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Saturday Night Live/YouTube
James Austin Johnson as President Trump delivering 'Saturday Night Love' cold open
Hours after Saturday Night Live ripped into the Trump administration for cracking down on late-night TV, the White House is hitting back in a statement issued to Entertainment Weekly.
The show's season 51 premiere kicked off with a cold open in which James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump warned the cast not to go too far with jokes at his expense or else they'd face consequences — a threat alluding to Stephen Colbert's recent Late Show cancellation and Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from ABC. He even brought out his "attack dog," FCC Chairman Brendon Carr.
"Reacting to this would require me to waste my time watching it," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told EW via email. "And like the millions of Americans who have tuned out from SNL, I have more entertaining things to do — like watch paint dry."
Saturday Night Live/YouTube
James Austin Johnson as President Donald Trump on 'Saturday Night Live'
Hosted by Puerto Rican superstar and future Super Bowl headliner Bad Bunny, the SNL premiere wasted no time before spoofing the Trump administration. Though the cold open began with Colin Jost impersonating an aggro Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, he got only a few licks in before Johnson's Trump interrupted.
Hegseth was in the midst of ranting about how the United States military is "gay as hell," saying, "We are facing the greatest threat to freedom and democracy the world has ever known, and we all know what that threat is..."
"Late-night TV," Johnson's Trump interjected. "I'm just here keeping my eye on SNL. Making sure they don't do anything too mean about me."
"And they better be careful 'cause I know late-night TV like the back of my hand," he added, holding up his right hand, which was smeared with makeup to cover up a bruise.
After dismissing Jost from the stage, Johnson's Trump took over the sketch to both insult and threaten the show's cast.
"Here we are, SNL season 51. Should have called it at 50, right? So sad to see something get so old and confused and still demand your constant attention," his Trump said, tongue-in-cheek. "But they better be on their best behavior, otherwise they're going to have to answer to my attack dog at the FCC, Brandon Carr."
To the tune of Rockwell's 1983 track "Somebody's Watching Me," SNL's Mikey Day entered the scene as Carr to correct Trump, pointing out that his name is actually Brendan, not Brandon. But the president told him that was not one of his concerns.
Johnson's Trump ended the segment by telling the cast, "Remember: Daddy's watching."
SNL's return and latest Trump parody comes after the president took aim at late-night and its hosts. It began in July, when CBS announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026, several days after the host criticized CBS parent company Paramount for settling a lawsuit with the president. At the time, Paramount was in the middle of a pending merger with Skydance that needed FCC approval, which led some to speculate about the timing of the announcement. The FCC approved the merger a week later. CBS has stated the cancellation was not connected to the merger and was "purely a financial decision."
Trump celebrated The Late Show's cancellation, writing on social media at the time, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!"
Anna Moneymaker/Getty
President Donald Trump in July 2025
Weeks later, Jimmy Kimmel Live was indeed pulled from the air for a week after Kimmel made comments about the alleged assassin of conservative activist and staunch Trump supporter Charlie Kirk. Trump gloated over ABC's decision to suspend Kimmel, calling it "Great News for America" and targeting the remaining late-night hosts: "That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC!!!"
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Once the suspension was lifted, Kimmel teamed up with fellow late-night hosts Colbert and Meyers to taunt the president with an Instagram photo captioned, "Hi Donald!"
Trump was quick to slam ABC's choice to reinstate Kimmel, fuming, "I can't believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his show was canceled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his 'talent' was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who's not funny, and who puts the network in jeopardy by playing 99 percent positive Democrat GARBAGE?"
on Entertainment Weekly
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