Saturday Night Live has faced criticism for poking fun at Pete Hegseth and suggesting that he drinks while on the job, during a skit that mocked the Trump Administration’s mishap with sharing top secret war plans through text messages.
Upon returning from a two-week break, SNL kicked off the show with a sketch involving a group chat, playfully ribbing Donald Trump’s national security team for including an editor from the Atlantic in a military chat.
Last week, the White House came under fire after the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg disclosed that he had been added to a Signal app group chat with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials.
SNL’s cold open featured a group of teenage girls played by Mikey Madison, Ego Nwodim and Sarah Sherman whose group chat was infiltrated by Hegseth, played by Andrew Dismukes.
‘FYI, green light on Yemen raid. Tomahawks airborne 15 minutes ago,’ Dismukes said. ‘Who’s ready to glass some Houthi rebels? Flag emoji, flag emoji, flag emoji, fire emoji, eggplant.’
‘Israel better bend over and spread it,’ Dismukes continued. ‘Baller. Water squirt emoji. God bless the troops. Eggplant.’
Vance, played by Bowen Yang, then entered the chat, and they started to joke that Hegseth was drinking on the job.
‘Well, I’m going to be bad and make myself a jack and coke to celebrate, just the one though,’ Dismukes said.
Mikey Madison guest starred on SNL this week, spoofing the Yemen group chat blunder
During the Weekend Update segment, Colin Jost mocked the group chat blunder and also made personal attacks on Hegseth
‘Nice, you promised to stop drinking when you got the job, but it’s like they say in AA, just the one is okay,’ Bowen said.
During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth pledged that he wouldn’t drink at all in his position as the Pentagon’s chief after past allegations he was drunk on the job numerous times on Fox News.
Later in the show during the Weekend Update segment, Colin Jost mocked the group chat blunder and also made personal attacks on Hegseth.
‘This week, we learned our entire National Security team has the texting skills of my aunt Janet,’ Jost said.
‘Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, seen here indicting how many days since his last drink, sent detailed attack plans for an air strike in Yemen to a text chain,’ he said with a picture of Hegseth holding up a zero with his fist.
Jost mocked Hegseth’s response to reporters about the leaked messages, comparing him to Tom Hank’s famous character Forrest Gump saying, ‘expect for Hegseth, life is more like a box of wine.’
Furious viewers came to Hegseth’s defense, slamming SNL for launching personal attacks over the sensitive issue.
‘You really need to go after the clowns at SNL for their “hit job” open on Pete Hegseth. Even by their standards, it was pure slander. Basically called him a silly drunk who willfully shared secrets. Not a fact to be found anywhere,’ one person said.
During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth pledged that he wouldn’t drink at all in his position as the Pentagon’s chief after past allegations he was drunk on the job
SNL opened the show with skit of a group of teenage girls having their group chat infiltrated by Pete Hegseth
‘Sadly fools watch SNL which predictably slandered Hegseth. Must be some way to derail these cocky bastards who have such total disregard for the truth. Pete clearly target. Called him a drunk who gave away secrets. Slander much?’
Another said, ‘SNL mocks Pete Hegseth, But real patriots know he’s a warrior cleaning up global messes. God bless our troops and strong leaders.’
Others claimed the personal attacks were not funny and slammed the show for losing it’s sense of humor.
‘The SNL Signalgate skit is really stupid,’ one person said. SNL must be pretty desperate,’ said another.
‘Typical and redundant of SNL, their so-called humor is as nonsensical as almost everything DEI related,’ a third person said.
‘Any chance someone could actually make this show funny again, seriously,’ added a fourth.
