Media

‘Saturday Night Live’ targets Fox News hosts on Ukraine invasion

“Saturday Night Live” knocked Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham for their comments on the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the sketch comedy show’s latest episode.

The show opened with the “Fox News Ukrainian Invasion Celebration Spectacular,” which was hosted from Mar-a-Lago. Carlson, played by Alex Moffat, and Ingraham, played by Kate McKinnon, hosted the fictitious event.

“Good evening, everyone. I’m Tucker Carlson. I’m like if a pair of boat shoes came to life,” Moffat’s Carlson said.

“And I’m Laura Ingraham. And when I watch ‘Harry Potter,’ I root for Voldemort,” McKinnon’s Ingraham said.

Moffat’s Carlson said the two network figures “got into a little bit of trouble for all the nice things we said about Russia and the mean things we said about Ukraine.”

“We did sound pretty awful in hindsight. And foresight,” McKinnon’s Ingraham agreed.

Moffat’s Carlson said he “kept asking, why do we hate Putin? Aren’t liberals in America even worse?”

“And I called the president of Ukraine pathetic. He stayed and fought with his people in the war, and I called him pathetic from a news desk in Washington,” McKinnon’s Ingraham said.

“I kept saying we should be more worried about our own border getting invaded by Mexico. But, in my defense, I am racist, so I thought that was true,” Moffat’s Carlson added.

Carlson, for example, told his viewers that Putin hasn’t promoted “racial discrimination” in schools, made fentanyl or attempted “to snuff out Christianity,” and Ingraham said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was giving a “pathetic display.”

Zelensky has become a global hero amid the invasion, lauded by many for remaining in Ukraine during the conflict.

Fox News noted that Carlson also said that “Vladimir Putin started this war.”

“Whatever the context of the decision that he made, he did it. He fired the first shots. He is to blame for what we’re seeing tonight in Ukraine,” he told viewers.

McKinnon’s Ingraham said on “Saturday Night Live” that the pair was going to “make it up to you” that night by “raising money for the real victims of this invasion: the oligarchs.”

“So please open your wallets. And because this is Fox News, you can either send money or take out a reverse mortgage,” Moffat’s Carlson said. “So far, we have raised over 8.3 billion rubles, which comes out to almost $12.”

The pair then brought on a number of guests, including actor Steven Seagal, who has ties to Putin, played by Bowen Yang, and Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr., played by Cecily Strong and Mikey Day, respectively.

Former President Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, also appeared, answering phone calls.

In one of his appearances, Johnson’s Trump discussed his love of bread before tearing into President Biden.

“My favorite food is probably bread, you know? And more specifically bun. I like bun,” Johnson’s Trump told a caller on the phone. “Bun is great, especially with respect to burger. And you know what? Now they want to go beyond burger, can you believe that? I want to stay right at burger. Beyond is not good. Joe Biden has gone beyond burger, and it has not gone so well.”

The sketch ended with Johnson’s Trump singing “My Funny Valentine” to Putin.

“I’ve got something I’d like to say to Putin as well. Vladimir, I want you to hear this from me. You is smart. You is kind. You is important,” Johnson’s Trump said. 

“I love you, Vlad,” he added after the singing number.

–Updated at 12:49 p.m.