President Donald Trump has made a routine out of being up early and on Twitter to take shots at Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos. Early Sunday morning, it didn’t appear as if the president stayed up late to see “Saturday Night Live” make reference to those attacks in a cold open featuring Alec Baldwin in his recurring role as Trump.
The opening bit featured Trump during a news conference with the leaders of three Baltic states. When members of the media started asking questions, Trump was caught off guard. “Oh my god, there are questions, too. What is this, a full work day?”
“SNL” cast member Aidy Bryant, playing a reporter, got to the heart of the Amazon issue. In recent weeks, the real president has gone after the e-commerce giant and its relationship with the United States Postal Service; he’s questioned how much the company pays in taxes; he’s gone after the Bezos-owned Washington Post and called the newspaper a lobbying tool for the billionaire owner; and more.
“Mr. President, why do you keep attacking Amazon?” Bryant’s reporter asked. “Do you really hate Jeff Bezos that much?”
“I do. I hate Jeff,” Baldwin’s Trump responded. “Because he’s way richer than me and he admits to being bald, so I feel threatened on two levels.”
Another tech giant was in the comedy series’ crosshairs on Saturday, when Facebook and its Cambridge Analytica customer data scandal was the subject of a “Weekend Update” bit featuring cast member Alex Moffat as Mark Zuckerberg.
When asked whether he will answer calls to step down as CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg said, “No way, homie. According to our data sets, I don’t have to and you can’t make me.”
Dressed in his trademark plain T-shirt, Zuckerberg promised that “unlike my facial expression, Facebook is going to change.” But when asked whether users are going to be able to delete their data, Zuckerberg scoffed and gave the answer we all fear.
“No. Because you gave it to me. No backsies.”
And finally, in a parody commercial, “Saturday Night Live” took on another issue near and dear to tech: DACA, or, the “Dreamers” program.
Four friends are shown playing “The Game of Life: DACA Edition” — the only board game where the ups and downs are just like in real life. While one player is headed to law school and another faces the prospect of having twins, one finds out she’s a dreamer. And her game immediately becomes a lot less fun.
“Whoa, time for a presidential tweet card!” says the commercial voice-over. “Better hope it’s just something about Roseanne.”
