‘SNL’ Cold Open Skewers Donald Trump’s Patriot Games & Kennedy Center Renaming
What To Know
- SNL’s cold open featured James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, mocking his administration’s decision to rename the Kennedy Center and other national monuments after himself.
- The skit satirized Trump’s penchant for self-promotion, with exaggerated proposals such as the “Trump Kennedy Center” and the “Trump Lincoln Memorial.”
- SNL also lampooned Trump’s announcement of a “Patriot Games” event at the White House, drawing parallels to The Hunger Games and making pointed jokes about recent controversies.
Saturday Night Live‘s cold open skewered President Donald Trump over his Patriot Games announcement and the Kennedy Center’s renaming.
On Saturday, December 20, James Austin Johnson once again embodied the POTUS, 79, for the opening skit. Johnson, as Trump, gave a Christmas address, and SNL took aim at the renaming of the Kennedy Center to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
“I wanted to ramble to you tonight about the incredible things this administration is doing. We are doing wonderful stuff,” Trump declared. “We are renaming the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which will now be called the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts No Homo.”
That’s when the POTUS revealed, “I’m actually going to be renaming a number of our other monuments as well — Trump Washington Monument!” Additionally, he revealed photos of the new Trump Lincoln Memorial and “Big Elphaba,” which was the Statue of Liberty.
Trump continued, “You know, people are saying, ‘Sir, why are you putting your name on so many buildings?’ And I say it’s because we had to take it off of so many files. [Jeffrey] Epstein, redacted. We had so many Trumps in there, we had to put them somewhere. You know what I’m saying? We like to say ‘redacted.’ It’s my second-favorite R-word, ‘redacted.’ I love it.”
Later in the SNL cold open, Trump brought up the newly announced Patriot Games.
“I almost forgot, I’m inventing my own Hunger Games! That’s right, the White House will be hosting the Patriot Games for high school athletes to compete,” he said. “Because I thought, ‘What’s the best way to distract from the Epstein files. I know, invite a bunch of teenagers to my house. That’ll help. I’ll take Things a Pedophile Might Do for $1,000, Alex.'”
Trump added, “They’re saying, ‘Sir, you’re doing Hunger Games, and you know how that book ends.’ And of course, I don’t. Because book. I don’t like to read, and quite frankly, might not be able to anymore. We’ll be looking into that very shortly.”
Saturday Night Live, Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC
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