“Saturday Night Live” took aim at the government’s group chat scandal with a scathing cold open about the perils of texting top secret intel.
This week’s sketch began with host Mikey Madison playing a teenage girl gossiping with two friends, portrayed by “SNL” cast members Ego Nwodim and Sarah Sherman.
What starts as typical high school chatter takes a surreal turn when U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unexpectedly crashes their conversation.
“FYI, green light on Yemen raid. Rockets went airborne 15 minutes ago,” says Hegseth, played by Andrew Dismukes. “Who’s ready to glass some Houthi rebels? Flag emoji, flag emoji, flag emoji, fire emoji, eggplant.”
Washington, D.C., was rocked this week after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed he was accidentally added to a group text where high-ranking officials hashed out plans to attack targets in Yemen.
Naturally, “SNL” didn’t let that slide.
Bowen Yang enters the sketch as a bundled-up Vice President JD Vance, responding to Hegseth’s message about his diplomatically questionable Greenland visit.
“Nobody knows why I’m here. Especially me,” he says before adding, “But praise Trump, our work here is mysterious and important,” a reference to buzzy TV series “Severance.”
As a honking car horn interrupts, Madison’s character says, “Gotta go, Matt’s here to pick me up. We’re going to a movie.”
“Who Gaetz?” asks “SNL’s” Hegseth, in a brutal reference to former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who was investigated over allegations of sex trafficking a minor. He has categorically denied the allegations.
Next, Marcello Hernandez appears as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who scrambles to backtrack once he realizes the administration has been texting with teenagers.
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“We were totally pranking you guys, LOL,” fake Rubio texts. “But would you mind emailing your names and home addresses to deportations@ice.gov?”
Watch the full sketch below:
