For news watchers, there was really only one thing worth talking about this entire week. So, the writers’ room of “Saturday Night Live” can be forgiven for airing three sketches that touched on Jeffrey Epstein‘s newly released emails.
The show hopped right into the controversy with a cold open of a White House briefing on the Epstein files.
“As you all know, there was no news this week,” Ashley Padilla’s Karoline Leavitt said. “Nothing happening with the president. No weird information was revealed. No one had any accusations that rhyme with ‘edophile.’”
Padilla directly quoted Leavitt’s assertion that President Donald Trump “did nothing wrong” before letting the mask slip.
“If anything, his crime was loving too much…and possibly too young,” she said.
Eventually, James Austin Johnson‘s Trump stepped to the podium to answer questions directly from reporters. When pressed on Epstein’s assertion that Trump was the “dog that hadn’t barked,” the sketch show’s Trump took offense.
“First of all, I’m not a dog. I’m more of a cub or possibly an otter. Definitely, not a twink. I think that’s clear,” he said. “You know, gays have words for everything, right. Kiki! We like to say ‘kiki!’ It means talking.”
Trump pivots by offering the release of “all of the Epstein Files” at a price of $800 per file, holding up an email in a gilded frame that some readers believe references both Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
The show dedicated nearly half of its other “ripped from the headlines” segment to Epstein. On Weekend Update, Colin Jost and Michael Che traded jokes about Trump and Epstein’s relationship. Jost said the ties between Epstein and Trump were “bombshell news that legal experts are calling ‘duh.’” Che said Epstein’s claim that he could “take Trump down” was “pretty big talk for a guy who lost to a bedsheet.”
Jost went on to marvel at the number of sex offenders Trump had counted as friends, pointing out ties to Epstein, Diddy and the former Prince Andrew.
“How many pedophiles do you know? One, maybe two?” Jost said. “Trump’s like the Forrest Gump of meeting famous pedophiles.”
The night’s most-surprising Epstein riff tagged in host Glen Powell and returning “SNL” veteran Will Forte. As MacGruber, a riff on the equal parts cheesy and crafty ’80s television hero MacGyver, Forte attempted to diffuse a ticking time bomb while being distracted by the possible release of the Epstein files.
MacGruber starts the sketch self-righteous, noting that the “rich and powerful have lived by a different set of rules than the rest of us.” This bit of bravado quickly falters when MacGruber finds his name on nearly every page.
Watch the sketch below via YouTube:
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