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SNL’s 1,000th Episode Opens With Pete Davidson Skewering ICE as Tom Homan

The Minneapolis-set cold open signaled a sharper course for the show after backlash to last week’s episode.

Overview

  • Pete Davidson returned in the cold open as White House border czar Tom Homan, briefing baffled ICE agents in Minneapolis.
  • The sketch lampooned agents’ confusion, references to extremist imagery, and a lack of training as Homan tries to “lower the temperature.”
  • Davidson’s Homan cited real-world controversies, invoking family separations and a filmed $50,000 bribe allegation that Homan has denied.
  • The segment urged agents not to use force and joked about avoiding being videotaped doing anything illegal, with a gag about releasing “Epstein files” as a distraction.
  • The episode marked SNL’s first Trump-free cold open this season, coincided with the show’s 1,000th broadcast, and was praised as a clearer rebuke following deadly federal actions and leadership changes that replaced Greg Bovino with Homan.