Saturday Night Live comedian, Michael Che has joked that he could be the next Black employee to depart from NBCUniversal after the network lost two of its most prominent figures this week.
Following a series of reports last weekend that Joy Reid was out at MSNBC amid a programming overhaul, new network president Rebecca Kutler made it official on Monday (24 March). Besides Reid losing not only her weeknight show but also her job, the liberal cable news channel also dropped programs hosted by Alex Wagner, Katie Phang, and others while rearranging much of the network’s lineup.
On the same day, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt announced to network staff that he was stepping down from the show he’s hosted since 2015.
“As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has,” he told staffers in his memo. “What an amazing ride.”
In the latest SNL episode (1 March) Che joked on “The Weekend Update” that a similar fate could be heading his way.
The 41-year-old said: “This week, MSNBC fired its only non-white primetime host, and Lester Holt announced he is stepping down as the anchor of NBC Nightly News.”
“Well, NBC, only one more to go, baby,” Che added, as he pointed to a photo of himself on screen.
Che has co-anchored “The Weekend Update” with Colin Jost since 2014. Che and Jost also worked as co-head writers on SNL from 2017 until 2022.
Watch the full segment below:
Elsewhere, the episodes cold open replayed the notorious Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the show mocked the world leaders.
In a reenactment of Friday’s White House meeting that SNL described as going “really, really well,” Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, introduced himself as the “CEO of Gaza hotel,” referring to the real president’s plans to make the war-torn region a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
He then turned to Zelensky, played by Mikey Day, and sarcastically thanked him for “dressing like casual Star Trek…I love Star Trek because there’s no DEI.” In reality, the Ukrainian leader wore a black sweater and black pants to the Oval Office meeting; Trump seemed to be peeved by his outfit choice.
Every time the SNL’s Zelensky tried to speak, the fake president and vice president kept interrupting in a way not too dissimilar from their real life counterparts.
But the opening didn’t stop there. The cast also took shots at Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency - with alum Mike Myers playing the tech mogul.
