President Trump criticized “Saturday Night Live” on Sunday afternoon for allegedly losing its humor and charm but praised musical guest Kanye West — who delivered an impromptu pro-Trump speech to awkward silence and a scattered mixture of boos and applause.
On Twitter, Trump accused the show of becoming a big political advertisement for the Democrats with its routine lampooning of conservative figures. The 44th season’s premiere on Saturday opened with a sketch of Matt Damon playing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh screaming at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump said he does not watch the popular late-night comedy show despite having hosted it in the past. However, he did catch wind of West sporting his “Make America Great Again” hat and praising Trump to the mostly liberal audience inside NBC’s Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
During a performance of “Ghost Town,” a song off his latest studio album, “Ye,” West was agitated by audience members laughing at him and launched into a pro-Trump monologue with the “SNL” cast standing behind him on stage, after the broadcast had ended.
“You see they laughing at me. You heard them. They scream at me. They bully me. They bullied me backstage. They said, ‘Don’t go out there with that hat on.’ They bullied me backstage. They bullied me. And then they say I’m in a sunken place,” West said. “You want to see the sunken place? OK, I’m going to listen to y’all now… or I’m going to put my Superman cape on because this means you can’t tell me what to do.”
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04.30.2025