LAST LAUGH?

White House Hits Back at ‘SNL’ Cold Open Takedown

Trump’s aides were not amused by the comedy show’s impersonation of the president.

The White House is trying to have the last laugh after Saturday Night Live mocked President Donald Trump and his cabinet during its Season 51 premiere. In the cold open, James Austin Johnson’s Trump warned, “[SNL] better be on their best behavior,” seemingly alluding to censorship fears following the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! “Otherwise they’ll have to answer to my attack dog at the FCC, Brandon Carr,” he added, before Mikey Day’s Carr creepily danced onstage to Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.” The show was also hosted by forthcoming Super Bowl headliner and Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who has been outspoken with his condemnation of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts in recent months. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson hit back at the show in a statement to Entertainment Weekly: “And like the millions of Americans who have tuned out from SNL, I have more entertaining things to do—like watch paint dry.” Johnson’s Trump closed the sketch by telling the camera, “Thank you, SNL crew, for your hard work and your votes.”