US President Joe Biden – as played by Saturday Night Live newcomer James Austin Johnson – met a host of “TikTok creators” in SNL’s opening sketch on the latest edition of the long-running comedy.
Biden was joined by press secretary Jen Psaki – as played by Kate McKinnon – on the 12 March episode, which was hosted by actor Zoe Kravitz.
“This week as the war in Ukraine intensified, access to Facebook and Instagram in the country was shut off, leaving only one source of information, TikTok,” explained a voiceover. “On Thursday, the White House responded by holding a national security briefing with some of the nation’s top TikTok creators. We take you now inside that historic meeting.”
The skit was based on an actual Zoom call which took place this week, in which 30 influencers received key information about the war in Ukraine from the real Psaki.
Johnson’s Biden then announced: “People are saying this is the first war fought on TikTok, which is tough for me because I’m the landline of presidents.” Biden then met a number of parody “creators”, including a poet, a prankster from a TikTok house, an alt-right pre-teen, “Jason Derulo” and a shirtless man with a plunger stuck to his chest.
However, fans on Twitter branded the skit “cringe”.
“I am begging snl to stop making cringe tiktok sketches for an audience who has no idea what they’re talking about,” wrote one viewer on social media.
“This sketch is about as cringey as the actual TikTok meeting sounds. And I’m going to give them the credit that it’s how they wanted it to go,” said another.
One viewer’s take was even more extreme, writing: “Please don’t do TikTok skits ever again.”
