“Saturday Night Live” Cold Open Features Donald Trump Talking About TikTok Ban

THE Saturday evening live The cold open saw James Austin Johnson return to the role of Donald Trump, two days before the inauguration, this time speaking about the TikTok ban.

About an hour before the show aired, TikTok really went dark as a new US law was about to take effect, restricting the social media platform to US app stores. The law gave Chinese parent company ByteDance a deadline to sell TikTok or face a ban. No sales took place and TikTok said the ban went into effect at midnight.

The premise of SNL MSNBC’s coverage of inauguration weekend was wide-open, with Rachel Maddow (Sarah Sherman) and other anchors struggling to focus on the substance of Trump’s policies, but perpetually distracted by his many outlandish proposals and posts on Truth Social.

Then, with the TikTok news, the anchors couldn’t resist covering Trump’s statement.

“Yes, we love TikTok, don’t we? » Johnson, like Trump, said it. “We love TikTok. We hated it, but frankly, in many ways it got me elected. Then Trump entered into “weaving,” or the tendency of his pontificate to enter the stream of consciousness.

“We like the Rizzler too, don’t we?” They’re trying to take the Rizzler from us. It’s so sad. They want him out of here. He then opened up about other social media sensations, including the ice bucket challenge.

“We may have to move to Reels with Mark Zuckerberg. I like it now. Zuck, it looks much better, much cooler perm-wise and pain-wise. He will of course be present at my inauguration which will take place inside – there are too many people to fit outside.

He continued: “We are very pleased to be inaugurated on Martin Luther King Day. I like to share the day.

Next, he introduced his “latest ministerial pick” – George Santos (Bowen Yang).

“I am very honored to join Trump’s Cabinet as Secretary of Fact-Checking and Ambassador to Sephora,” Santos said. “I’m part politician, part Cameo, then part politician and finally part prison pipeline.

The media coverage shifted to MSNBC anchors, who couldn’t resist Trump’s incessant tweets and statements, which included the announcement that “America has declared war on sharks: and that Trump would like to trade with Connecticut. In addition to Maddow, the sketch also spoofed Stephanie Ruhle, Ari Melber, Joy Reid and Chris Hayes.

More to come.