Overview
- An announcer gag opened with “You’re watching C‑SPAN” before joking that the network was for sale too, a nod to reporting on Netflix’s deal to buy Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max.
- Colin Jost played Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who mock-deflected questions about reports he ordered an illegal second strike on a suspected drug-running boat in the Caribbean.
- Jost’s Hegseth dismissed the allegation with the line “that kind of cruel, heartless act has no place in Operation Kill Everybody,” and offered a shifting account of his role.
- James Austin Johnson’s president was shown asleep during the scene and audibly dreaming about Zohran Mamdani before riffing on “fog of war” and joking that support could vanish with blowback.
- Melissa McCarthy hosted the episode, and SNL posted a clip of the cold open as coverage highlighted the sketch’s political jabs.