“Saturday Night Live” shied away from tackling the recent sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump head-on in its cold open, choosing to do a straight parody of the Oct. 7 town hall debate, complete with Ken Bone and stalking Trump memes.
The open begins with Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper taking shots before starting the debate and introducing Democratic nominee as “President Hillary Clinton.”
Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin’s Clinton and Trump circle each other to intimidating classical music before they both fake a handshake only to smooth their hair back, referencing the moment at the Sunday debate in which Clinton and Trump broke tradition by refusing to shake hands.
The open pokes fun at Clinton’s robotic demeanor, with McKinnon responding to a question about youths by responding, “Let me start by walking over to you just like I practiced … I love my daughter Chelsea and my granddaughter Chelsea Jr.”
Trump response to the question referenced his questionable comments about the attractiveness of his daughter Ivanka Trump: “I love kids, I love them so much I’d marry them.”
Asked about his sexual comments, Trump says he’s not as bad as Bill Clinton and points out his accusers are in the audience, but when Raddatz asks him about the women accusing him — the show’s first reference to the multiple women coming forward accusing him of sexual assault — he answers, “They need to shut the hell up.”
The open mostly took joy in pointing out the memes that came out of the debate, including the rise and fall of the red sweater-clad Ken Bone, and Trump’s close stalking behind Clinton, set to the music of “Jaws.”
The sketch veered into biting commentary for the first time with Trump’s answer to a black town hall questioner about inner cities, saying, “Speaking of black men, you know who else should be in jail? Hillary Clinton. She’s committed so many crimes she’s basically a black.”
An overjoyed Clinton had nothing to say in response, except to the softball final question, happily stating, “I do like how generous [Trump] is. Just last Friday, he handed me the election.”
