Saturday Night Live returns for its first episode of 2018 and of course, they had to poke fun at President Donald Trump's controversial 'shithole' comments about several countries across the globe in their cold open.
First reported by the Washington Post on Friday, Trump referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as "shithole" nations during a bipartisan meeting Thursday and then wondered why the United States couldn't bring in more immigrants from countries like Norway. The president's comments sparked harsh rebuke from GOP Rep. Mia Love, whose parents were immigrants from Haiti, and the United Nations, among a number of other groups and organizations. Even Don Lemon got in on the criticism, calling out the president's racism and his supporters ignorance.
SNL opened with a spoof of Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe, played by Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat respectively. After touching on Trump's comments, they cut to an interview with Eddie S. Glaude Jr., but they don't let him answer, capturing the banter and flow of Morning Joe perfectly.
Later in the skit, they interview Fire and Fury: Inside the White House author Michael Wolff, played by Fred Aremstein, to ask him questions about the book's truths and inaccuracies. The best part of all, though, was when the grim reaper (normally to represent Steve Bannon) turned out to be Bill Murray. Bannon, who was ejected from Breitbart News, updated everyone on what he's been up to. "I’m working on a web series for Crackle," Murray says.
Saturday Night Live has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration over the past year, from Alec Baldwin's recurring appearance as the president, to a hilarious spoof of Donald Trump Jr. and Julian Assange's secret correspondence.
You can watch the cold open above.
