SNL’s Colin Jost Humiliates Barbaric Hegseth With Brutal Takedown
“Public executions are back,” SNL’s Secretary of Defense declared.
Saturday Night Live ripped into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his bizarre announcement that the government would soon be livestreaming an execution.
“In December, as we get into the Christmas spirit, we’re going to execute a guy in a wheelchair on live TV,” said SNL’s Hegseth, played once again by Colin Jost.
“Yeah, that’s right. Public executions are back,” Hegseth said. “Kind of like Scrubs.”
Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth on SNL.
NBC
The man scheduled to be executed is Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major who killed 13 people and injured 32 others in a terror attack at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. He was sentenced to death four years later.
Jost’s Hegseth added about Hasan, “And if the guy somehow survives the firing squad, then he’s got to fight Jake Paul. So check that out.”
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Jost’s line referenced the botched execution of Christa Pike in late September, an incident that sparked renewed debate over the ethics of public executions.
Hegseth’s execution plan for Hasan is controversial even among Pentagon officials, with one Army officer telling CNN, “It takes away everything America stands for when we do public executions.”
Jost’s Hegseth also revealed his “new logo” for the Defense Department, which one of the soldiers in the room immediately compared to a “Nazi eagle.”
“It’s an American eagle with a Nazi vibe,” Hegseth said defensively.
NBC
When the soldier, played by cast member Andrew Dismukes, pushed further on the topic, Hegseth replied, “The only eagle you should be worried about is your mom’s spread eagle on my bed right now. Yeah, paints a picture.”
James Austin Johnson appeared in the cold open, not as his usual President Trump, but as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I’m happy to report that America is healthier than ever,” RFK Jr. said. “That’s why I would officially like to rename cold and flu season to cold and flu and listeria and measles and trench brain season.”
SNL, James Austin Johnson as RFK Jr.
NBC
At the end, RFK Jr. finally cleared his throat—and surprised the audience by saying, “It’s been my esteemed pleasure” in a completely normal voice.
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