Overview
- Following Saturday’s Weekend Update segment, a White House spokesman criticized SNL after Michael Che joked about President Trump attending the theater.
- Che said, “I think that’s cool that the president is going to the theater, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” in a line widely read as a Lincoln reference.
- The Studio 8H audience laughed and cheered, and clips of the moment drew swift online condemnation accusing the show of crossing a line.
- Coverage highlighted that Trump previously survived a 2024 rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that Ryan Wesley Routh was later convicted and sentenced for a separate attempted attack.
- Reports from right-leaning outlets cast the bit as encouraging violence, while left-leaning coverage framed it as satire within an episode that also mocked Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem’s husband, and U.S. policy on Iran.