The long-standing NBC comedy show "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) has recently come under fire for what critics have labeled as "utterly inappropriate" content.
The show, known for its satirical take on current events, has been accused of trivializing assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump in its latest episode.
SNL has a history of occasionally setting aside humor for more serious moments. A notable instance was when Kate McKinnon, impersonating Hillary Clinton, performed a rendition of "Hallelujah" following Trump's unexpected 2016 election victory. However, the recent assassination attempts on Trump did not warrant such a solemn response, according to Fox News.
The 50th season of SNL kicked off on Saturday evening with a host of special guests lampooning current political figures. The lineup included Maya Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg as her husband Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan as Gov. Tim Walz, and Dana Carvey as President Biden. James Austin Johnson portrayed Trump and made light of the first assassination attempt, which resulted in the death of a Trump supporter in Butler, Pa.
Johnson, as Trump, humorously depicted the former president at one of his rallies, saying, "Where the hell is everyone going? Where are you going? I see you trying to leave, but the doors are locked. Come on back were having fun. We love my rallies, except when someone does the bing, bong, bing, bing, bing right at me," referring to the sounds of bullets. "You know that happened because of the rhetoric of the radical left. They say that me blaming the Democrats for inciting violence is the pot calling the kettle black."
Mike Sington, a former senior executive at NBCUniversal who now identifies as a pop culture expert and Hollywood insider, expressed his disbelief at SNL's audacity. "I was watching it live, and actually cringed when they mocked the assassination attempts in an effort to be funny. Im no fan of Trumps, but I thought it was in extremely poor taste," Sington told Fox News Digital.
Fox News host Jimmy Failla echoed Sington's sentiments, stating that SNL has shifted from comedy to "activism masquerading as comedy" in recent years. "SNL has basically devolved into a group therapy session for liberals who are wildly out of touch with the zeitgeist," Failla said. He further criticized the show for its overt celebration of Trump's loss in the 2020 elections.
Failla argued that the infamous "Hallelujah" rendition following Clintons 2016 loss demonstrated the show's self-absorption, especially considering that Trump was a longtime NBC personality before entering politics. "They go after things that work well in a liberal bubble, but look stupid to the rest of us, because it looks like activism masquerading as comedy," Failla said.
Failla, who hosts "FOX News Saturday Night," believes that any subject can be humorously addressed if done tastefully. "If you're making fun of a situation where he was shot and someone else was killed, then it better be funny. Like the juice better be worth the squeeze, which it clearly wasn't in this case," Failla said. He also criticized SNL for not making any effort to conceal their political bias in their coverage.
Political satirist Tim Young also criticized SNL, stating that the show "jumped the shark politically" years ago, particularly with their treatment of Trumps 2016 victory "as if it were a funeral" with McKinnon playing the piano on a dark stage. "Their mocking of Trump's assassination attempts was completely inappropriate," Young told Fox News Digital.
Young believes that making light of the assassination attempts "feeds leftist conspiracies that it never happened" and also "downplays the seriousness of the threats on Trump's life." "Which I believe encourages more lunatics and foreign adversaries to try," Young said.
The Trump campaign took to social media to express their disgust, posting, "There were two assassination attempts against President Trump within a span of seven weeks. @nbcsnl apparently finds that funny. Disgusting."
Conservative radio host Jason Rantz expressed his disappointment with the show's one-sided humor. "Its not just Trump they loatheit's everyone who supports him," he said. "At the very least, youd hope theyd be funny while being so obnoxiously partisan. But no, theyre not funny. They havent been funny in decades."
Despite the criticism, Young noticed something "significant" during the same sketch. "They mocked all of Biden's confusion, smelling hair, etc. for one of the first real times since he's been in office," Young said. "SNL defended Biden by not being hard on him before," Young added. "Now that Kamala has been installed as the Democrat nominee, they finally treat him like they have other candidates pre-Trump."
Login