‘Saturday Night Live’s parody of Trump and Zelenskyy’s controversial meeting deemed ‘less chaotic and embarrassing’ than the real thing
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump’s controversial White House meeting on Friday, February 28, Saturday Night Live (SNL) wasted no time producing a parody. Shockingly, it seems that reality has officially outdone fiction in satire.
The skit features James Austin Johnson as Trump. Sitting next to him is a rather distressed Mikey Day, who played Zelenskyy. Rounding out the skit’s cast were Bowen Yang playing Vice President JD Vance and Marcello Hernández as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Of course, the skit wouldn’t be complete without Mike Myers popping up in the scene as Elon Musk.
In the parody, Trump introduced himself as the “CEO of Gaza Hotel and Casino,” which was a direct jab at Trump’s controversial stance on annexing Gaza. He also proceeded to mock Zelenskyy’s choice of attire (though Trump wasn’t the one to comment on it originally, as a conservative reporter felt that was a necessary question to ask for some reason). Right on cue, Vance interjected and accused Zelenskyy of not thanking the United States. Amid the chaotic skit, Trump asserted that only he has the cards to bargain, not Zelenskyy. But in a cheeky bit, SNL’s version of Trump said, “I have [a] get-out-of-jail-free [card],” for which he thanked the Supreme Court. Reflecting on what happened on Friday, Zelenskyy barely gets to speak without Trump and Vance interjecting at every turn possible.
As Marco Rubio regrets his life decisions, Elon Musk appears out of nowhere with a roaring chainsaw above Trump’s head. In a rather rabid haze, Musk “jokingly” suggests that Trump isn’t the real president. Many YouTube comments praised the actors for dialing up Trump, Vance, and Musk’s mannerisms. One YouTube commenter wrote, “Mike Myers twitchin’ out as Elon was epic.” Meanwhile, other commenters were impressed that SNL had a skit ready just a day after the notorious meeting.
When satire becomes reality
One YouTube comment reads, “This was less chaotic and embarrassing than the real thing.” At the very least, the SNL skit was entertaining. The actual meeting involved Trump, Vance, and those present berating Zelenskyy incessantly.
Another grim YouTube commenter wrote about the skit, “Looks like SNL won’t need writers anymore. They can just create skits of what actually happens in the White House every day.”
As much as viewers wanted to laugh at this SNL skit, many were disturbed at how close to reality it was. President Trump was not interested in negotiating for peace—rather, it seemed he was determined to make Zelenskyy sign a deal that would undermine Ukraine. On the other hand, JD Vance was more interested in diverting the conversation to gratitude and respect, though Vance refused to respect Zelenskyy in return. SNL went understandably over the top when they portrayed Trump, Vance, Musk, and Rubio, but it was still too close to the truth. Only the addition of Elon Musk made it feel genuinely different. With this administration, parody is slowly becoming reality.
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