The January 6 Committee cold open drew some big praise from fans of Saturday Night Live, but don’t count Donald Trump among them. The one-time host of the sketch comedy show has become a huge hater of the NBC mainstay in recent years, and after another episode that took aim at his role in a coup attempt last year and the ensuing fallout, Trump decided it’s time to declare the show “over” once and for all.
The show still spends plenty of time on Trump, spending much of Weekend Update on Trump and a lengthy response to the actual January 6 Committee hearing last week. And the cold open featured James Austin Johnson showing off his Trump impersonation while on a golden toilet, swigging Diet Coke and asking whether Mike Pence is “dead yet?” as the insurrection attempt aired on live TV. It wasn’t flattering, of course. And apparently he’s had enough of all that attention.
Posting into his own personal online shout box, Truth Social, Trump said the show is not “funny or smart” and said it should probably be canceled. As Newsweek notes, this falls in line with what he typically says about things he does not like:
“I once hosted Saturday Night Live, and the ratings were HUUUGE! Now, however, the ratings are lower than ever before, and the show will probably be put to rest,’” Trump said.
“It is just not, at these levels, sustainable—A bad show that’s not funny or smart. L.M. [producer Lorne Michaels] is angry and exhausted, the show even more so. It was once good, never great, but now, like the Late Night Losers who have lost their audience but have no idea why, it is over for SNL—A great thing for America!”
Declaring something “over” happens a lot these days online, so it’s funny to see Trump become just another poster on a mostly obscure social media network made only for him. But speculation about how long SNL will continue isn’t really new these days. There aren’t many people who assume the show should be “put to rest” because they’re the subject of entire sketches, though. That’s really only Trump in that category these days.
[via Newsweek]