MAGA erupts in fury at SNL cast for deeply personal stab at Pete Hegseth: 'This is disgraceful'
MAGA supporters have erupted in fury over Saturday Night Live 's latest political sketch featuring a deeply personal dig at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The controversial segment, which aired this weekend, featured former cast member Cecily Strong returning as Judge Jeanine Pirro alongside Colin Jost portraying Hegseth as her 'drinking buddy.'
In the sketch, Strong repeatedly made light of alleged alcohol issues that the real-life Defense Secretary has vehemently denied.
'I love Pete Hegseth. He's my old drinking buddy,' Strong's Pirro said.
When Jost then entered the scene as Hegseth, Pirro was so surprised that she sprayed wine all over his face.
'Hey, Pete, you're not drinking again, are you?' Johnson's Trump asked.
'No, absolutely not, sir,' Hegseth replied. 'I promised I would never have a bottle touch my lips, but I do have some news to share. Before I do, Jeanine, you want to take a swig of this?'
Pirro then spat her drinks in his face again - and he eagerly opened his mouth to catch some of the alcoholic spray.
'Anyway,' Hegseth continued. 'I accidentally added Kim Jong Un to the group chat.'
'Oh yeah, that's the stuff,' Hegseth jokes, as Trump calls the pair the 'AA team.'
The sketch sparked fury on social media with users slamming the show with angry reactions.
Many supporters of President Trump called the 'comedy' 'disgraceful' and 'anti-American.'
'This is what despicable disgraceful anti American TV PROPAGANDA looks like,' wrote one particularly incensed viewer on X. 'They attempt to portray @JudgeJeanine & Sec. Def as drinkers to regurgitate old slander points. Is this what you want your kids growing up watching?'
'Is this what you want your kids growing up watching? When we grew up with SNL it was funny,' the furious user continued.
One user questioned: 'How much longer will they be able to do s*** like this?'
Another commented: 'It's not funny. The political bias and one sided comedy is just pathetic and sad.'
Critics called out the sketch not just for its offensive content but also for Jost's 'poor portrayal' of Hegseth.
'SNL does poor preparation for their skits and this shows. They have Hegseth all wrong,' one user criticized. They clearly have never watched a clip of him talking. He acts like Christopher Moltisanti from the Sopranos not some prep school kid.'
'SNL has no one that can do a decent Hegseth impersonation,' another wrote.
The SNL cold open came after President Donald Trump this week announced that he was appointing the 73-year-old former judge the next United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Pirro will replace Trump's interim appointment Ed Martin.
The NBC show mocked the new appointment, by bringing back a Merlot-sipping Strong to star as the judge.
'I am so proud to be part of this group full of Russian assets, booze hounds and people famous for the little baby animals they've killed,' she said, thanking the president - played by James Austin Johnson - for adding her to the administration.
Johnson's Trump then shared his own praise of Pirro.
'Oh we love Jeanine. She's a great legal mind and she ahs the most important quality I look for in a lawyer: She's on TV. She's on The Five, which is a show kind of like The View,' he jokes.
At that point, Cecily's Pirro interjects that she's 'a Whoopi,' which Johnson's Trump agreed with - saying she was also 'very tough.'
'Yes, especially on immigration,' the fake Pirro agreed. 'I don't have any reservations about sending things back.
'My friends know I've sent back every salad I've ever ordered at a restaurant,' she added - leading Trump to say he 'wouldn't know' as he has 'never' eaten a salad.
This isn't the first time SNL took a dig at Hegseth's drinking habits.
In March, critics slammed the show for insinuating that he drinks on the job, as they made fun of the Trump Administration's top secret war plans texting blunder.
SNL opened the show with a group chat skit teasing Donald Trump's national security team for adding an editor from the Atlantic to a military group chat.
The White House faced fierce backlash last week when the Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he was added to a Signal app group with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials.
Vance, played by Bowen Yang, then entered the chat, and they started to joke that Hegseth was drinking on the job.
'Well, I'm going to be bad and make myself a jack and coke to celebrate, just the one though,' Dismukes said.
'Nice, you promised to stop drinking when you got the job, but it's like they say in AA, just the one is okay,' Bowen said.
During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth pledged that he wouldn't drink at all in his position as the Pentagon's chief after past allegations he was drunk on the job numerous times on Fox News.
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