In a week that saw George Santos join Cameo, the fourth GOP presidential debate, and a Fox News “town hall” with Donald Trump, where Sean Hannity was the only person allowed to ask any questions, there seemed to be plenty of material for discussion. Saturday Night Live To create a state of cold political openness. Instead, they made the unexpected decision to attack Claudine Guy, Sally Kornbluth, and Liz Magill — the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively — who testified before Congress on Tuesday about the alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. . Campuses across America (including its own) since the war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7.
To say the hearing did not go well for academic heads would be a gross understatement, as evidenced by Magill’s decision to resign from her position, which was announced on Saturday; but SNL He also struggled with trying to make fun of the outdoor winding incident this week.
The sketch, presented as a cover by C-SPAN, saw Kornbluth (Chloe Fineman), Magill (Heidi Gardner), and Jay (Igo Nwodim) asking questions, but ultimately avoiding some very direct questions about anti-Semitism on their campus. But it was “MAGA star” Elise Stefanik (Chloe Trost) who received the most attention for her performative rage — both in SNL And on Tuesday. By way of introduction, the New York congresswoman warned that she would “scream questions at these women like Billy Eichner,” and then proceeded to do just that, beginning with: “Antisemitism: yes or no?” and “Yes or No: Is advocating the genocide of Jews inconsistent with the Harvard Code of Conduct?”
When Jay and Magill did not provide answers to the questions, a frenzied Stefanik offered Kornbluth “the opportunity to steal,” but warned her to “keep in mind that if you don’t say ‘yes,’ you’re going to do it.” I It looks good, which is really hard. So I’ll ask you directly: Do you think genocide is bad? Kornbluth responded with her own question: “Can I provide a written answer later?”
“Do I win this hearing? Someone’s pinching me,” shouted a visibly excited Stefanik.
Stefanik explained that she was there that day because “hate speech has no place on college campuses.” Hate speech belongs in Congress, on Elon Musk’s Twitter, at private dinners with donors, and in the public speeches of my business husband, Donald Trump.
The real star of the sketch, as usual, was Kenan Thompson, who appeared very briefly as the online president of the University of Phoenix, who just wanted to play with the presidents of some real college. His brief appearance was the only part of the sketch that elicited any real laughter from the audience.
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