Season 51 of Saturday Night Live (SNL) kicked off on October 4, 2025, with an opening sketch that wasted no time diving into the political fray. The show's cold open lampooned President Donald Trump’s recent claims about ending wars, his ongoing feud with late-night television, and the ever-present shadow of his alleged connection to Jeffrey Epstein. The timing couldn’t have been more charged, as the Trump administration was already grappling with a fresh wave of controversy and internal discord over the Epstein scandal, thrust back into the spotlight by a Cabinet official’s bombshell remarks earlier in the week.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the SNL sketch featured James Austin Johnson as Trump, standing in front of a massive American flag and declaring, “I’m just keeping an eye on SNL, making sure they don’t do anything too mean about me.” The parody continued, with Johnson’s Trump quipping, “And I know late-night TV like the back of my hand,” while displaying a make-up covered hand—a wink to recent speculation about the president’s health. He finished with a warning: “Remember: Daddy’s watching!”
The sketch didn’t stop there. It poked fun at Trump’s recent, widely debunked claim that he had “settled seven” wars since returning to office. Johnson’s Trump boasted, “I ended all the wars. Every single one of them—except the two main ones that are still happening and are more vicious than ever.” According to Entertainment Weekly, the show’s writers also took aim at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s controversial remarks about “fat generals and admirals.” Colin Jost, playing Hegseth, deadpanned that the military needed “hot shredded hairless men who are definitely not gay. No fat chicks! And if you’re a fat dude, you must be funny as hell.”
But the sketch’s most biting moment came when it referenced Trump’s alleged 50th birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein. “May every day be another wonderful secret,” Johnson’s Trump intoned, quoting from the card that Congress published last month after receiving it from Epstein’s estate. Trump has denied writing the card and even sued the Wall Street Journal for publishing its contents. It’s worth noting, as BBC and The Wall Street Journal have reported, that Trump has never been accused of criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Meanwhile, the real-world scandal swirling around Trump and Epstein was escalating. Just days earlier, on October 1, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast and called Epstein “the greatest blackmailer ever.” Lutnick, who once shared a townhouse wall with Epstein in Manhattan, recounted a visit to Epstein’s home: “I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?’ And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets, like, weirdly close to me, and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’” Lutnick speculated that Epstein’s “massage room” activities were likely recorded on video and that these tapes were traded to secure Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, which allowed him an 18-month sentence with work-release privileges. “There must have been a trade,” Lutnick said, referencing the infamous deal that let Epstein avoid federal sex trafficking charges.
Lutnick’s comments, as reported by PBS and NPR, directly contradicted the Trump administration’s public denials of any credible evidence of blackmail or trafficking. FBI Director Kash Patel had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 16, 2025, that his agency had “no credible information” to suggest Epstein trafficked girls to friends or associates. Yet, Lutnick’s story—coming from within Trump’s own Cabinet—sent shockwaves through the White House. As Zeteo reported, one senior administration official fumed, “That f*king dumbas. I’ve worked with him and can tell you he doesn’t think he did anything negative…That’s not how he thinks. He just talks and talks, and doesn’t care what unhelpful bullshit comes out.”
The controversy landed at a time when public demand for transparency was soaring. A new PBS/NPR/Marist poll found that 90% of Americans wanted some or all of the Epstein files released, with 67% of Republicans supporting full disclosure. Congressional leaders quickly seized on Lutnick’s remarks. Rep. Robert Garcia, a top member of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN, “We need to have Howard Lutnick in front of the committee.” Senator Adam Schiff echoed the call for a subpoena, as the House inched closer to a vote on a discharge petition that would force the release of the Epstein files. Yet, House Speaker Mike Johnson was reportedly delaying proceedings, keeping the House in recess and postponing key hearings, including one with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had previously claimed knowledge of an “Epstein client list.”
Back on the SNL stage, the evening’s host, Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio), delivered a monologue that was both celebratory and defiant. The Puerto Rican superstar, recently announced as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performer, joked, “I’m doing the SuperBowl halftime show. I’m very happy and I think everyone is very happy about it, even Fox News.” In a clever montage, Fox News hosts were shown saying, word by word, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician. He should be the next president.”
Bad Bunny’s selection as halftime performer had sparked outrage among some conservatives, especially after he remarked that he would not perform at U.S. venues during his 2025-2026 tour out of concern that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might target his fans. Critics also bristled at the prospect of a mostly Spanish-language set. During his monologue, Bad Bunny addressed the controversy in Spanish: “Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it,” a line translated by The Hollywood Reporter. Switching to English, he challenged viewers: “And, if you didn’t understand now what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
The new season of SNL arrived amid internal shakeups, with several long-standing cast members announcing their departure. Creator Lorne Michaels defended the changes, telling Puck, “Change is good. The people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”
Earlier the same evening, Trump had taken to social media to demand that TelevisaUnivision be restored to YouTubeTV after a contract dispute led to its removal. He argued that the move was “VERY BAD for Republicans.” But when SNL aired, he remained silent on Truth Social, his preferred platform, perhaps wary of fanning the flames ignited by the show’s pointed satire and the ongoing Epstein fallout.
As the week closed, the intersection of politics, scandal, and pop culture was on full display. With public pressure mounting for transparency on the Epstein files, and SNL’s satire keeping the spotlight on the administration’s missteps, it’s clear that neither the late-night stage nor the halls of Congress are ready to let these controversies fade quietly into the background.
