91% of SNL’s political Weekend Update jokes this season targeted Trump, conservatives: study

The report found that 91 percent of the show’s political jokes on Weekend Update targeted conservatives, while 82 percent of political portrayals during cold opens mocked President Donald Trump or republicans. The analysis reviewed the first 19 episodes of the season through May 9, finding that anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che made 226 political jokes in total. Of those, 205 were aimed at conservatives, 18 targeted Democrats, and three were categorized as nonpartisan.

When looking at jokes specifically about President Trump, the report found that nearly half of all Weekend Update jokes targeted the president. The second-most mocked political figure was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

According to the New York Post, SNL’s ratings have risen amid its continued focus on mocking Trump, who has previously hosted the show twice.

The analysis also found that SNL’s cold opens featured 49 portrayals of Republicans or conservatives, compared to just 10 portrayals of Democrats. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was parodied nine times during cold opens, while former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt were each portrayed four times.

Last month, SNL drew backlash after a joke by Che alluding to a potential assassination of President Trump.

“President Trump attended the opening night of ‘Chicago’ at the Kennedy Center, and I think that’s cool that the president is going to the theater. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” Che remarked with a smirk, referencing Abraham Lincoln and resulting in a roar of laughter from the audience.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded to the joke at the time, saying, “‘Saturday Night Live’ hasn’t been a good television show since President Trump hosted it.”

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