‘SNL’ mocks university presidents’ antisemitism hearing in cold open

“Saturday Night Live” targeted the congressional hearing last week about combatting antisemitism on college campuses during its cold open.

The spoof on last week’s hearing on antisemitism on college campuses featured Chloe Troast playing Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who last week tore into three university presidents at the hearing about how their institutions have dealt with the rise of antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October. The skit largely focused on the three university presidents giving broad answers to questions posed by Stefanik and other committee members.

“Now I’m going to start screaming questions at these women like I’m Billy Eichner. Antisemitism, yea or nay?” Troast, playing Stefanik, opened the mock hearing with.

The cold open included Heidi Gardner playing University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, Chloe Fineman playing Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Sally Kornbluth and Ego Nwodim playing Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University.

“Yes or no. Is calling for the genocide of Jews against the code of conduct for Harvard?” Troast asked.

Nwodim, playing the president of Harvard, told her that it “depends on the context” before Troast turned to the impersonated president of the University of Pennsylvania and asked the same question. Gardner said “we are serious about stopping all forms of hatred” in her response — an answer that Troast appears to find unacceptable.

“M.I.T. Lady, chance to steal. And keep in mind, if you don’t say yes, you’re going to make me look good, which is really, really hard to do,” Troast said to Fineman.

Bowen Yang, who played Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), posed additional questions to the university presidents, including how they would respond to situations like what if a student yells they “poisoned the water supply.” Nwodim responded that if they “poisoned it with diversity, that could be wonderful.”

When asked what they would do if someone yelled fire in a crowded theater, Gardner replied that she would “be excited the theater was crowded because I support the arts.”

The scene then pivots to Kenan Thompson, playing the president of the online University of Phoenix, where he was asked if he could condemn antisemitism on his campus.

“Well, my campus is the internet, so antisemitism is kind of our most popular major,” he replied. “And our mascot is porn.”

The skit came just hours after Magill resigned from her role at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday after facing outcry over her answers at the hearing. All three university presidents faced backlash for saying that it would depend on the context whether comments calling for genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment.

Stefanik had also called on the three university presidents to resign from their posts on Friday.

“This lack of moral clarity is shocking. If only it were surprising,” she wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “In the months since Oct. 7, the mainstreaming of anti-Jewish hate has been on full display at the poisoned Ivy League and other so-called elite schools, as has the gutless lack of response from university leaders.”