As President Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” James Austin Johnson defended the renaming of the Trump Kennedy Center.
‘SNL’ mocks Hegseth and Trump over cold Venezuelan fishing boat collision
“Saturday Night Live” began with a cold opening, starring Colin Jost as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who gives a combative press conference.
‘Saturday Night Live’ concludes 2025 with a holiday message from President Donald Trump.
The cold opening of this year’s final “SNL” episode featured James Austin Johnson playing Trump giving a special holiday-themed speech at the White House. In his speech, he defended the move to rename the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center the Trump Kennedy Center.
“We are renaming the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and it will now be called ‘Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, No Homo,'” he said.
Like Trump, Johnson has announced his intention to rename other national monuments after him, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
“People say, ‘Doctor, why are you putting your name on so many buildings?’ And I say, ‘It’s because we had to remove it from so many files,'” Johnson said, referring to the release of new documents on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that included numerous redactions.
The cold open also referenced President Trump’s announcement that he would create an event for high school athletes called the Patriot Games, described as a competition consisting of “one young man and one young woman from each state and territory.”
“I’m inventing my own Hunger Games,” Johnson’s Trump said. “That’s right. The White House is going to host the Patriot Games, where high school athletes compete, because they thought, what’s the best way to distract from the Epstein file? I know, invite a bunch of teenagers over to the house. That’ll help.”
“They’re doing The Hunger Games and they say they know how the book ends, but of course I don’t know, because it’s a book,” he added. “I don’t like reading books. To be honest, I might never be able to read them again.”
Johnson’s Trump also claimed that the Epstein file was “very transparent.” “Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible man. I didn’t know him, but I really liked him,” he said.
Ariana Grande hosted the December 20 episode of SNL with musical guest Cher. This will be Grande’s third time hosting SNL, and Cher’s first time as a musical guest on the show since 1987.
The episode was also the last for longtime cast member Bowen Yang, who confirmed he would be leaving SNL after the Christmas show.
Last week’s “SNL” started off with a cold start, with President Trump ranting on a variety of topics aboard Air Force One, including the release of new photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. “The truth is, these photos are fake news and a Democratic hoax,” Johnson said, impersonating Trump, before changing his tone and prompting White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt (played by Ashley Padilla) to intervene, admitting, “I’m on file. I took a lot of great photos!”
So far, Bad Bunny, Amy Poehler, Sabrina Carpenter, Miles Teller, Nikki Glazer, Glen Powell, Melissa McCarthy and Josh O’Connor have hosted Season 51 of SNL, which began in October after a summer reshuffle.
SNL has added five new cast members to the new season: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Cam Patterson, and Veronica Slawkowska.
So far, Padilla is considered the breakout star of Season 51. The comedian, who joined the show in 2024, not only impersonated Leavitt, but also had key roles in several other popular skits, including one in which he played a woman who claims to be happy with a bad haircut.
When will ‘SNL’ return in 2026?
“SNL” returns on January 17th with host Finn Wolfhard and musical guest A$AP Rocky.
