SNL mocks Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth in press briefing cold open
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
“Saturday Night Live” opened its Saturday episode with a sketch of a White House press briefing featuring Aziz Ansari as FBI Director Kash Patel, satirizing the administration’s response to the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The sketch’s most striking moment came when Ansari described himself as a “pioneer” while undermining Patel’s own competence.
“I am the first Indian person who is terrible at his job,” Ansari said of his role as Patel. “We can be just as clumsy and incompetent as the Whites.”
The character also mocked the agency’s investigation timeline when pressed by reporters.
Aziz Ansari appears as Kash Patel at a mock press conference, joking about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination attempt and responding to criticism of his leadership. (Candice Ward/Getty Images for Lionsgate)
TRUMP RUNNED AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER WHEN SHOOTED
“For those who say I’ve done a bad job running the FBI, what if I told you that this agency is only six weeks away from pinpointing Osama bin Laden,” Ansari said.
At another point, the character referenced the manifesto allegedly linked to the Reporters dinner suspect while answering questions about his standing with Trump.
“Even the Reporters Dinner attacker said, ‘Kill everyone except Mr. Patel,'” Ansari said. “If you’re getting a shout out like that in a psychopath’s manifesto, you must be doing something right.”
The cold open also featured Colin Jost portraying Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; briefly transitioned to foreign policy and military operations involving Iran.
Colin Jost plays Pete Hegseth, who offers exaggerated updates on military action and insults journalists during the briefing. (Gilbert Flores/WWD)
EXPERT WARNED THAT IRAN’S EYE WAS WANTED TO TAKE REVENGE ON SOLEIMANI, AND HAVING DINNER REVEALED THE ‘Weakness’ In Security
“As you may have seen on sick TikTok, we’re bombing things, doing nasty airstrikes,” said Jost as Hegseth. “This war was a movie, especially ‘The Never Ending Story’.”
When pressed on conflict-related costs, the sketch used musical parody to deflect.
“I think I can put it in a way that a theater kid like you will understand: 525,000, 600 billion,” Jost said. “In summary, war is great.”
The sketch opened with Ashley Padilla, who plays White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, introducing Hegseth before the briefing gets heated.
The cold open features a White House press room scene featuring multiple Trump administration figures addressing the attempted attack and taking questions from the press. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)
MIKE DAVIS: KASH PATEL IS REBUILDING THE FBI DESPITE CONTINUOUS ATTACKS
“That’s when you tell President Trump about your motherhood and he says leave,” Padilla said as Leavitt.
The draft also included Patel denying allegations about his conduct in office while answering journalists’ questions. The draft also included a joke about Patel denying allegations of misconduct, including questions about email access and personal conduct.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS ON MEDIA AND CULTURE
As Patel, Ansari said, “I have always been able to log into my email, except for a brief 36-hour period when I forgot to change my password.”
This episode of Saturday Night Live follows a security breach at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where prosecutors allege suspect Cole Tomas Allen attempted to storm the event with multiple weapons. Federal officials said the investigation is ongoing.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
