Overview
- Both SNL franchises opened Saturday with parodies of Melania Trump’s unexpected statement denying ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with Chloe Fineman playing Melania in the U.S. and Emma Sidi debuting the role in the U.K.
- In the NBC sketch, James Austin Johnson’s Trump fielded “urgent” calls from Tiger Woods, Melania, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he riffed on Iran war talk and a controversial Easter post.
- Fineman’s Melania pitched a “big, random” speech that Trump called “a little insane,” then floated denials about the Gilgo Beach serial killer and partying with Sean “Diddy” Combs to a punchline that such claims would raise more suspicion.
- SNL UK staged a backyard barbecue where Sidi’s Melania burst from a hedge to shout “Never have I ever been friends with Jeffrey Epstein,” repeatedly forcing the topic as baffled partygoers joked that her husband “started a war to distract us from it.”
- Reaction split online, with viewers praising Fineman’s “spot-on” impression while others knocked the cold open as repetitive, and coverage noted the parallel sketches as the weekend’s leading pop‑culture response to the first lady’s rare denial.