NBC pulled out all the stops to enable what should have been a stellar 50th anniversary Saturday Night Live primetime special to be middling at best.
There were moments of humor, but unfortunately, the program, which aired Sunday night, was littered with sketches that just were not funny and downright stupid, including Tom Hanks’s portrayal of a Donald Trump supporter in one of them.
It happened during a sketch called “Black Jeopardy.” The premise is solid enough and is a reprise of past SNL sketches.
It played on the idea that what African Americans think is important and what they know can be different from the general population, and especially the white population.
It actually started out funny with host Darnell Hayes (Kenan Thompson) saying, “Welcome to Black Jeopardy the only Jeopardy where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s half-time performance.” Yes, most of the population probably found Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show last weekend kind of bizarre.
Eddie Murphy played Tracy Morgan in the skit, and imitated him to a T, while Tracy Morgan standing right next to Murphy was “Darius.” It’s silly and fun.
At one point, Darnell asked Murphy playing Morgan why he’s even a participant on “Black Jeopardy,” given all the money he has.
“You gotta have a lot of money if you’re going to live like I live. I eat four cheese lasagna. If it only got three cheeses, I ain’t eatin’ it,” he explained. “I refuse to eat just three cheeses.”
Black Jeopardy! #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/QFKKTRWeer
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 17, 2025
Did this SNL sketch go too far?
Yes: 95% (219 Votes)
No: 5% (12 Votes)
The sketch continued with a few more lines worth some chuckles with Leslie Jones playing a woman named Shanice filling out the cast.
Then for some reason when it was mostly through, SNL switched out Murphy’s character with Hanks, reprising his role as Doug from past episodes of “Black Jeopardy.” He has a Make America Great Again hat on and speaks in a southern drawl. He is of course racist because that’s how much Hollywood thinks of Trump supporters.
Oh, and Doug’s a hypocrite too. After correctly answering that Dana Carvey played the SNL character Church Lady in the 1990s, Doug said, “Can I add something? If more people went to church, we wouldn’t be in this mess we’re in now.”
Darnell responded, “You know what I agree with you, Doug. I’d like to shake your hand.”
He walked over, but Doug backed away not wanting to shake Darnell’s hand, but finally relented. In other words, white MAGA people talk about honoring God and then don’t even want to shake a black man’s hand.
“Thank you, my brother,” Doug said hesitantly and offered, “Maybe I’ll start a show for you to come on and we’ll call it White Jeopardy.”
“We don’t need it,” Darnell responded.
Doug not wanting to shake hands with the host was a throwback to the election year of 2016, when once again wearing a MAGA hat, he did the same.
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Many conservatives blasted Hanks’s Sunday performance on social media.
One responded on X, “This makes me mad. SNL ran a skit tonight w/Tom Hanks as a MAGA racist…he literally recoils when a black game show host reaches to shake hands. So wrong — MAGA isn’t racist! SNL knows they can keep pushing these stupid stereotypes for laughs. Sick.”
This makes me mad.
SNL ran a skit tonight w/Tom Hanks as a MAGA racist…he literally recoils when a black game show host reaches to shake hands.
So wrong — MAGA isn’t racist!
SNL knows they can keep pushing these stupid stereotypes for laughs. Sick.
— Kristen Mag (@kristenmag) February 17, 2025
Sara Rose wrote, “Tom Hanks went on SNL dressed like a slob mocking millions of Trump supporters – portraying them as dumb, racist, rednecks. Keep it up libs. You’ll never win another election again.”
Tom Hanks went on SNL dressed like a slob mocking millions of Trump supporters – portraying them as dumb, racist, rednecks.
Keep it up libs. You’ll never win another election again. pic.twitter.com/MigX4rE0Sa
— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) February 17, 2025
Outkick founder Clay Travis rightly pointed out in response to the sketch, “Fun fact: Trump’s 2024 election win was the LEAST racially divisive American election since 1964.”
The Associated Press reported after November’s election that Trump gained ground among black voters, picking up 16 percent of their vote, up from 12 percent in 2020.
“Trump about doubled his share of young Black men – which helped him among key Democratic voting group. About 3 in 10 Black men under the age of 45 went for Trump, roughly double the number he got in 2020,” the AP said.
Trump won more black voters than any Republican presidential candidate since Gerald Ford in 1976 (who received 17 percent), according to Newsweek.
Further, Trump won 42 percent of the Hispanic vote, up from 32 percent in 2020.
In his opening monologue Sunday night, comedian Steve Martin took a few more lighthearted jabs at Trump and his policies.
Martin said early in the monologue that he had been vacationing on a boat in the Gulf of Steve Martin, but decided to make the trip for the SNL 50 celebration. That was an obvious reference to Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America.
#SNL50 monologue! pic.twitter.com/1L4xgiZ9r1
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 17, 2025
Near the end of the monologue, Martin’s good friend and fellow comedian Martin Short joined him on stage.
Short turned to Martin and said, “I thought we were hosting together.”
Martin asked Short, who is Canadian, if he had his passport on him.
“I.C.E. get him,” Martin said, and agents (fake of course) showed up and removed Short from the stage.
Short called out as he was being dragged away, “No, I’ll cooperate. I’ll name names” and then began calling out other Canadian natives like Mike Myers and Jim Carrey.
Ok, that’s funny, especially given Trump’s trolling of Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
So the 50th-anniversary show had its moments, but overall it was a miss, particularly Hanks’s portrayal of Trump supporters.
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