Just couldn’t help themselves, eh?
Saturday Night Live celebrated their 50th anniversary this weekend with three nights of SNL 50, bringing back some of their alumni cast members and iconic skits.
The problem for the show, though, is that it largely served as a reminder of just how bad SNL has gotten in recent years.
I know it’s pretty easy to make fun of just how bad SNL is these days. They’re such an easy target that it’s almost like punching down at this point. But man, it’s just sad when you’re reminded how funny the show used to be back in the days of names like Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy and the legendary Norm Macdonald.
And one of the sketches that they brought back last night was “Black Jeopardy.”
Now I wouldn’t consider this one of their most iconic skits. It first debuted about 10 years ago, and has only returned a handful of times. But back in 2016, Lorne Michaels and crew used the sketch as an opportunity to comment on Donald Trump’s first presidential run.
The sketch featured Tom Hanks as “Doug,” a white man in a MAGA hat competing on “Black Jeopardy” who got all the answers right and made the rest of the crew realize that they had more in common with Trump supporters than they thought.
Well they decided to bring it back again last night…and it didn’t go over well.
The skit started out with Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones serving as the contestants. But towards the end, Hanks once again shows up as “Doug” in his MAGA hat, portraying Trump supporters as racists who are afraid to shake the hand of the black host played by Kenan Thompson.
The rest of the sketch was alright, with the big joke being that the contestants had never even heard of SNL. But it seems that Hanks and his portrayal of Doug missed the mark – not only with the studio audience, who didn’t even laugh at the joke, but with many online who blasted their performance as an offensive caricature of Trump supporters.
As many pointed out, Trump had more support from black voters in 2024 than in any of his two previous presidential campaigns:
This isn't only tiresome, it's not remotely funny.
And Trump won more of the Black vote than any Republican in 50 years… https://t.co/kuMaERQD89
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) February 17, 2025
But others criticized the performance as an offensive stereotype of half the country that voted for Trump as ignorant racists:
Tom Hanks always wants to pretend he’s the likable everyman but he’s as hate mongering of regular Americans as any host on msnbc.
Good luck becoming less and less culturally relevant by the second bro. https://t.co/37f5vzq9ft
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 17, 2025
SNL decided it was a good idea to depict Tom Hanks as a “Racist Trump Supporter” in a MAGA Hat afraid to shake a black man’s hand.
Donald Trump just won a landslide election and has never been more popular with Americans.
They have learned nothing.pic.twitter.com/HST1DXcM4L
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 17, 2025
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
Nobody even laughs. Tom Hanks and the writers of @nbcsnl are an embarrassment for this nonsense. pic.twitter.com/eNrLSGSWDR
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) February 17, 2025
Tom Hanks just came out on SNL in a MAGA hat for a bit where he acted like he didn’t want to shake a black man’s hand.
This show wonders why their ratings are in the gutter. Trump won the popular vote. This tired trope that MAGA is racist is disgusting. SNL is an unfunny show… pic.twitter.com/PlSc7gmiJ0
— Link Lauren (@itslinklauren) February 17, 2025
They dragged out Tom Hanks on SNL to serve as the old, white, racist MAGA guy who didn’t want to shake a black man’s hand.
Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/mDMGLi4uBi
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 17, 2025
It didn’t take @nbc long to insult Trump voters by putting Tom Hanks on with an all black cast acting dumb and racist in a MAGA hat. It was rather disgusting. What a tool. What a disgrace @nbcsnl to decide to exclude an audience of millions who grew up watching your programming. pic.twitter.com/uEmG4aEm0Y
— texanconstitutionalist (@texanconstitut1) February 17, 2025
SNL and Tom Hanks recycled their joke making fun of 77 million Americans portraying them as dumb, racist, rednecks.
They still haven’t figured out why they lost. pic.twitter.com/MVmluzCoxM
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) February 17, 2025
Of course the media and shows like SNL are never going to learn, because they live in a liberal bubble and hire 20-something year old writers who have never interacted with anyone outside of their social circle. They have this image of Trump supporters as racist rednecks, and assume that everybody else in the country does too, so I’m sure they thought this one was going to crush.
Man, I miss the days of SNL with guys like Norm Macdonald making so many jokes about OJ Simpson being a murderer that he was literally fired from the show.
Keep trying, SNL. Maybe you’ll figure it out again over the next 50 years.
