'SNL' Faces Backlash After Nikki Haley Makes Surprise Appearance During Cold Open

[highplainsdem]

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Saturday Night Live instantly started receiving backlash after Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made a surprise appearance Saturday night.

During the cold open, Haley asked James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump, “Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?”

Johnson’s Trump responded, “Oh my God. It’s her, the woman who was in charge of security on Jan. 6. It’s Nancy Pelosi for the 1,000th time.”

Ayo Edebiri later popped up at the end of the sketch and directed a question at Haley: “I was just curious, what would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an S and ends with a ‘lavery’?”

Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-facing-backlash-nikki-haley-surprise-appearance-1235814363/

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And then SNL let her play that for laughs. See this tweet:

Link to tweet

There was immediate outrage on Twitter, from both left and right.

[montanacowboy]

1. NOOOOOOOOOO

SNL has been going down the toilet for a long time now but this does it. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have her on? JHC

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Oh brother.

Has America forgotten how to laugh?

The slavery quip was a good jab at Haley, but more importantly it was a fantastic humiliation of Trump, and I hope it gets under his skin and he stays up all night posting all caps rants.

[Deuxcents]

5. They get their feelings hurt over everything..the show isn't even over

And already it’s in print about their complaints. I’m so sick of them n their doom n gloom and miserable lives

[NEOBuckeye]

29. Slavery is no joke

It was in very bad taste, even for SNL.

And why let Haley air out her dirty laundry???

Gross. All around yuck.

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

59. Agreed.

[Freethinker65]

3. Hardly Haley's rehab.

This way they can have Biden do a similar cameo and can claim equal time.

And, fyi, I haven't watched SNL live in years.

[Conjuay]

46. Same here

I think I managed to watch the first three seasons before I realized it wasn't really funny.

[Ferrets are Cool]

53. I hope not. They will just make fun of him.

[pnwmom]

4. Why should we care if Trump loses a few votes to her? nt

[Dulcinea]

6. I hope Dolt 45 soils himself after seeing it. nt

[GoneOffShore]

28. You hope he soils himself? Depend on it.

[mucifer]

7. I was more annoyed by the "no Black people will vote for President Biden" joke during

weekend update. The Nikki Haley stuff didn't bother me.

[live love laugh]

8. No surprise. Republicans own the media conglomerate.

[orangecrush]

14. This

[markodochartaigh]

18. I remember in 1999

Al Gore was talking about putting Social Security "in a lockbox", i.e. not borrowing against it for other purposes. I thought that this was a great idea. SNL ridiculed his idea. This was really disappointing to me.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. Ya, crazy that everyone glommed on to "lockbox" like it

like it was an insane and horrible idea.

Perhaps Gore should have chosen a better word? Na, just zero PR

Most of you don't even know that a House Committee concluded that trump withheld PPE from blue states. Again, no PR.

But how good would an ad be now in every blue and purple state ?

[John1956PA]

33. Yes. I recall SNL portraying Sen. Gore in a debate.

The cast member portraying him kept talking in circles about the "lockbox." I did not care for that portrayal either.

[betsuni]

31. And so were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

[Silent Type]

9. I'm certainly not ticked about that. Gotta tick off trumpsters.

[COL Mustard]

10. Haley would be a formidable opponent in this year's election

She’s whip smart, she clearly has the ability to laugh at herself, and she’s not Former President Stinky.

I wouldn’t vote for her, because she’s too closely tied to FPS but she’d be hard to beat IMO.

[Sky Jewels]

19. I don't think the majority of women

Would vote for an anti-abortion candidate. She’d be viewed as a gender traitor by most of us. And of course there’s no shortage of misogyny to go around, especially on the R side. I don’t think she’d have an easy path to the presidency.

[calimary]

21. This woman certainly WON'T. Not EVER.

[maxsolomon]

66. A Majority of White Women would.

A majority of White Women voted for Trump in 2020.

[Sky Jewels]

67. I know, but that was before Dobbs.

It could happen again, of course, but it’s a different calculus now.

[maxsolomon]

68. I'm related to several anti-choice white women.

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2024, 02:24 PM - Edit history (1)

none of them will change - they'll vote only for repukes.

i'm skeptical that Dobbs is a game changer, other than a small GOTV percentage.

[Sky Jewels]

71. Of course antii-choicers won't change.

But plenty of R women are pro choice but didn’t worry about it as long as Roe was standing.

I think a lot of men such as yourself are underestimating the fury and determination of women when it comes to voting to restore our autonomy and status as first class citizens instead of third class citizens, after men and fetuses. Special election results have shown this again and again.

[maxsolomon]

72. i am well aware of the anger surrounding Dobbs. i live with it.

if you tell me pro-choice republican women are going to vote dem this year, great. i hope you're right.

[Sky Jewels]

73. Not all, obviously, but even a few point shift would make a difference

along with a bigger jump from independent women and higher female turnout overall. I believe we are going to outvote men by a bigger than normal percentage.

[tanyev]

39. Except if she did become the GOP nominee,

Trump would spend the entire campaign attacking her and most of his cult would refuse to vote for her.

[question everything]

11. Sarah Palin appeared there and I don't remember this offended sensitive souls.

[Earth-shine]

17. They humiliated Palin to her face and she was too stupid to realize it.

In this number, Amy Poehler is nine months pregnant and still a tour de force. Seth Meyers wrote the song.

[DET]

27. The moose...

I remember that skit. It was hilarious.

[highplainsdem]

62. I don't remember Sarah Palin having refused to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War

while campaigning for president, and SNL giving her a platform and letting her try to laugh off that pandering to racists during their first show at the start of Black History Month.

That was the most offensive part of Haley's appearance.

They could have had a cast member play Haley asking Trump those questions. The cameo was designed to make the real politician more likable.

[Prairie Gates]

12. "There was immediate outrage on Twitter..." When is there not?

It was funny.

We need less outrage, more laughter, including at ourselves.

[live love laugh]

37. Nikki Haley is not "ourselves."

[KS Toronado]

57. Prairie Gates never said Haley was included in "ourselves"

[Chi67]

50. As a LGBT person

I find nothing amusing about Haley.

[yonder]

13. My tin foil hat says its now official:

Anticipating DFT's approaching collapse, our Fascist Overlords/Powers That Be/NBC have now withdrawn support for TSF's campaign and thrown their weight behind Haley with this stealthy move. More to come.

Tin foil hat off.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

41. I actually think this is plausible from the way things are looking right now.

[YoshidaYui]

15. i laughed my ass off seeing that....

[orangecrush]

16. Fuck SNL

Last edited Sun Feb 4, 2024, 03:01 AM - Edit history (1)

Reminds me of Lee Atwater's appearance on David Letterman back in the 80's, which featured "humor" such as someone made up to be Willie Horton "dancing" (humping on) a white woman. Letterman kissed his ass, and it was entirely disgusting, racist, and smiled on by the corporate network owners. Some things never change.

[Joe Nation]

20. Nikki Haley is completely aware that what she says

even she doesn't really believe. She is trying to walk a fine line nobody could ever navigate. She will have to drag the MAGA cultists by their morally bankrupt asses into the light of sanity in order to win the nomination--which she knows she won't do.

So SNL? Why the hell not? Trump has to be having seizures tonight.

[live love laugh]

35. SNL is the equivalent of Dancing With the Stars (DWTS)

The Republican washing machines to take the stench off of their people.

Wonder if she’ll dance on the next season?

[KS Toronado]

23. It's comedy people

If you don't like it mute it or change the channel. And if you're of the mind set you'll never tune in to SNL again,
that reminds me of Al Franken for some reason.

[live love laugh]

38. What reminds you of Al Franken exactly?

[KS Toronado]

43. This help?

You see what SNL did? No more SNL on this TV.
You see what Al Franken did? No more Al in this Senate.

[live love laugh]

45. Really? Franken removed reminds you of Haley on SNL?

43. This help?
8:17 AM
You see what SNL did? No more SNL on this TV.
You see what Al Franken did? No more Al in this Senate.

[KS Toronado]

49. MJF2

[rubbersole]

25. Anything that helps push slobby over the edge is OK by me.

He definitely loaded the diaper watching her throughly enjoy herself mocking him.

[NEOBuckeye]

30. It was dumb and desperate, and in bad taste

Haley’s campaign is on life support as it is. The SNL skit was a desperate attempt by her to cling to life and relevance. But she’s on the ropes. Leave her there to receive the knockout blow in the SC primary.

TFG must go down also, but we don’t need help from an opportunist wannabe backup to KO him as well. The shit is already piling onto him from all of his legal woes.

[dchill]

32. I don't get it.

[MistakenLamb]

34. Lorne is such a POS

Next week someone who was a castmember for 5 days before being fired is hosting

[betsuni]

36. Oh, it doesn't make a bit of difference.

Seeing Nikki Haley in a skit isn't going to turn anybody into a Republican any more than seeing Sarah Palin on the show did. And not everything's a billionaire/oligarch corporate media conglomerate conspiracy.

[Vinca]

40. I just watched it on another site. It was funny!

[Ferryboat]

42. Its comedy...

Sometimes it doesn't go over well. If everyone gets upset because someone like Nikki Haley shows up, we really are a bunch of fragile snowflakes.

[twodogsbarking]

48. Well put.

[doc03]

44. SNL is so bad anymore I didn't even realize it was Saturday last night. It doesn't

look like I missed much.

[JohnnyRingo]

47. It was funny. People are getting too worked up over a threat or a perceived betrayal.

I remember when SNL had McCain and/or Palin do the same thing. I don't believe it did any political harm to Biden and likely little help for Nikki. It did allow her to atone for her slavery comment, but it was brave of her to do that on live TV. ("Slavery, and I should have said that the first time" )

People have to remember we're the party of tolerance and not a monolithic platform. The other side can be funny too. Let's not lose the ability to laugh together.

[twodogsbarking]

52. You can't condemn censorship and then recommend it. Go Johnny go.

[Zambero]

51. That good old element of surprise

mostly at Donnie's expense.

[dutch777]

54. How long will it take Donnie to demand equal time?!?!?!

Gotta butt hurt him to not be SNL cool.

[brooklynite]

55. Where's the "backlash"?

[Dr. Strange]

74. On Twitter.

I mean X. It's pretty common to see outrage like this on a day ending in the letter "Y".

[MadMike47]

56. SNL needs a makeover.

Skits aren't funny. Too many cast members. They need new writers, fresh ideas and they need to get rid of Keenan Thompson. He never was funny.

[orleans]

60. i love kenan! there are 3 reasons i watch that show

1. weekend update (for better or worse but it feels like it is beginning to wear on me)
2. kenan thompson
3. bowen yang

[tanyev]

63. Bowen Yang is a treasure.

I also enjoy the Please Don’t Destroy videos.

[IronLionZion]

58. They had Trump in 2016

so I suppose they're consistent

[ForgoTheConsequence]

64. Next week the host is a guy who hosted a podcast with a white supremecist.

Google Sam Hyde he's an anti-semitic alt-right troll.

[Qutzupalotl]

65. Haley crushed it.

Comedy is hard for politicians, but she did about as well as could be expected.

What I don't understand are the reactions here. Isn't a longer R primary to our advantage? Prop up the #2 and let them duke it out a while longer?

And even if she does manage to win, she would not set up a fascist dictatorship like TSF would. I'm more against losing American democracy than I am against ever seeing a Republican president again. Because if TSF wins, we would never see another Democratic president, ever. We can handle one term of a Republican president, as long as it's not Trump.

Nevertheless, Biden will be re-elected, I am certain. Women want choice.

[brooklynite]

69. Complaints on Twitter don't really add up to a "backlash".

[LetMyPeopleVote]

70. Lorne Michaels SLAMS Trump while responding to the SNL/Nikki Haley criticism 🔥

Link to tweet