‘Loser’ Donald Trump sings mournful stripped-down piano version of ‘Macho Man’ in hilarious SNL skit
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) serenaded his supporters with Macho Man on SNL. (YouTube)
Donald Trump got a fitting send-off on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, singing himself out to the Village People’s “Macho Man”.
SNL kicked off this weekend (November 7) with a special election cold open, airing three hours after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accepted their election as president and vice president
“It’s been so long since something good happened,” grinned Jim Carey as Biden.
“Sure, it took forever. We kept edging closer and closer – it was like having sex with Sting, but what a release man!”
Biden and Harris (a gleeful Maya Rudolph) celebrated victory, with the Rudolph explaining to “all the Black and brown girls” that “the reason your mom is laughing so much tonight, is because she’s drunk”.
As Rudolph tried to convince Carey that it was perhaps time to gloat “just a little”, the skit cut to Donald Trump’s “victory speech”.
“People don’t just want to see Biden and Kamala happy, they want to see Trump sad,” said Beck Bennett as CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, introducing a burbling Alex Baldwin as the soon-to-be former president.
“As anyone who died half-way though Tuesday knows I was re-elected president of the United States,” said Baldwin.
The SNL favourite tore into Trump’s petulant refusal to concede the election and his continued, baseless and debunked allegations of fraud in the election.
“The fact is I was winning on Tuesday and then they started whittling away my votes, whittling them own until there was only a whittle bit weft,” he joked.
“But I vow to all my supporters I’m gonna fight this thing to the bitter end… let me remind of all of you who I really am,” he added, before walking over to a piano and launching into a ballad version of the seminal gay anthem – and for reasons unknown to humanity, Trump’s favoured rally anthem – “Macho Man”.
The sketch ended on a fitting note: with Carey channeling his Ace Ventura character to call Trump a “loser”.
Dave Chappelle cracks AIDS joke in SNL monologue.
The SNL cold open was immediately followed by a biting monologue by guest host Dave Chappelle.
The comic made powerful points about the election and how America’s divisions run much deeper than any one president, urging white viewers to participate in “random acts of kindness for Black people” and taking aim at anti-maskers.
But a derogatory quip about the late Freddie Mercury left a sour taste in the mouths of the LGBT+ community.
“It was hilarious, Trump getting coronavirus was like when Freddie Mercury got AIDS. Nobody was like, well how did he get it?” Chappelle said.
Though the joke earned laughs in the SNL studio, Chappelle was heavily criticised online.
“AIDS jokes. Not funny in the 1980s. Not funny now,” tweeted HIV campaigner and Aidsmap executive director Matthew Hodson.
AIDS jokes.
Not funny in the 1980s.
Not funny now. pic.twitter.com/7T0g8hu4jA
— Matthew Hodson (@Matthew_Hodson) November 9, 2020
“Using ‘the gays have AIDS’ trope as punchline isn’t just offensive, it’s also lazy,” added HIV and sexual health activist Tom Hayes.
Using “the gays have AIDS” trope as punchline isn’t just offensive, it’s also lazy.
Now do the one about airplane meals.— Tom trying to stay PositiveLad (@PositiveLad) November 9, 2020
