After taking a three week hiatus, the cast members of Saturday Night Live returned with an onslaught of political satire directed at Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, and of course, the latest Trump administration gaffes and miscues. They also managed to cover that infamous Pepsi commercial as well.
The opening video clip shows O’Reilly’s character (Alec Baldwin) doing a mock version of The O’Reilly Factor, when he opens the show with allegations against the Obama administration for its “abuse of power.” About a minute into the segment, he seems to be having problems with his news correspondents, who all happen to be women. He calls upon Fox News’ investigative reporter Laura Dewey, only to find out that she left the network. O’Reilly then says, “What’s that? Laura no longer works at the company? Well, did she get the check? OK, fine.”
He then quickly diverted back to the allegations against Susan Rice, who purportedly leaked classified information while serving under the Obama administration as his National Security Adviser. O’Reilly’s character introduces Malia Zimmerman (Cecily Strong), a Fox analyst who usually broadcasts from inside the studio, yet this time she’s outside of the studio, exactly 500 yards away from him.
Perhaps looking for the answers he wants to hear, O’Reilly poked and prodded Zimmerman about the Susan Rice interview, when Rice clearly stated that she didn’t leak anything. No means no, doesn’t it? “OK, but when she said no, what was her vibe?” he said. “Like, when she said ‘no,’ did her eyes say ‘yes?’ Sometimes they’ll do that.”
This particular exchange of words finally comes to an end, yet it represents a larger issue of women being sexually harassed in the workplace, on college campuses, and in a variety of social settings.
O’Reilly finally addresses the issue on sexual harassment, yet he makes no reference to the $13 million settlement awarded to 5 different women who accused the anchor of making unwelcome sexual innuendos/advances: “Apparently several women have come forward and accused me of offering them exciting opportunities here at Fox News. Beyond that, the details are a bit fuzzy, but one man was brave enough … one man … to come to my defense, a man who was unimpeachable on all female issues. Now, he’s here tonight.”
Enter Donald Trump (also played by Baldwin), a man who’s no stranger to male chauvinist propensities. The Donald proceeds to defend the behavior of the Fox News host, just as he did in real life when interviewed by the New York Times: “I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person. I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled. Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.” Trump made these comments during the first week of Sexual Assault Awareness month.
The SNL team also poked fun at the Pepsi commercial that proved to be a bad way to send a message of unity. The video shows the producer/director (Beck Bennett) on the set and getting ready to shoot. The SNL team did a reenactment of what things may have been like on the actual set.
The Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che mainly consisted of taking potshots at the president in reference to a number of issues. Jost opens up by saying, “The only thing scarier than Donald Trump acting un-presidential, is Donald Trump acting presidential.” Che compared the bombing of a Syrian air strip and Trump’s relationship to Assad and Putin by showing a segment of The Three Stooges.
A new episode of SNL can be seen on April 15th, with guest host Jimmy Fallon.