'SNL' Cold Open tackles US-Iran strikes

This week, as global tensions spiked, Saturday Night Live's Cold Open returned to familiar territory: James Austin Johnson at a podium portraying President Donald Trump, explaining why the United States launched attacks on Iran. "What is war good for?" Johnson's Trump begins. "Distracting from the Epstein files."

The broadcast aired just hours after the United States, in coordination with Israel, launched strikes on Iranian military targets; those strikes prompted retaliatory attacks and were described by Vox as the start of a "far-reaching and open-ended war."

Subtle, it is not. Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth then entered to blaring patriotic rock, brimming with Fox News bravado. "Don’t let my confident demeanor fool you," Jost’s Hegseth declared. "I’m scared and don’t know what I’m doing."

snl, cold open, donald trump, james austin, epstein files, united states, iran, israel, colin jost, pete hegseth