A White House rep has responded to the first cold open of “Saturday Night Live” season 51, which targeted Donald Trump and FCC chair Brendan Carr for their recent clampdown on late-night TV.
“Reacting to this would require me to waste my time watching it,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote to Entertainment Weekly via email. “And like the millions of Americans who have tuned out from ‘SNL,’ I have more entertaining things to do — like watch paint dry.”
Season 51’s first cold open saw James Austin Johnson’s Trump interrupting Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth impression to make sure “SNL” wouldn’t “do anything to mean about me.”
Johnson’s Trump was quick to talk down on the prolific late-night sketch show. Making reference to this summer’s cast rework, he said, “‘SNL’ 51 off to a rough start: 17 new cast members and they got the ‘Update’ guy doing the open.”
He then warned that if “SNL” got out of hand, they would have to face the wrath of “my attack dog at the FCC, Brandon Carr.” Mikey Day as Carr then danced into frame to the tune of Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” and corrected Johnson’s Trump about the pronunciation of his name.
“It’s actually Brendan, sir,” said the phony Carr. Johnson’s Trump replied, “It’s crazy you think I care. Bye!”
Ending with a warning, Trump said, “Remember: Daddy’s watching.”
Johnson has been the go-to Trump impersonator on “Saturday Night Live” since he joined the cast in 2021.
Check out the entire cold open below.
