Saturday Night Live checked in to The White Lotus in its most recent episode, casting the family of President Donald Trump in a spoof of the hit HBO show.
Why It Matters
The president recently announced that the U.S. would impose a 10-percent “baseline” tariff on virtually all imports and singled out roughly 60 countries for what he described as “discounted reciprocal tariffs.”
The White Lotus recently aired the finale of its third season, with this season seeing a 78-percent increase in viewership over Season 2, averaging 12.2 million viewers per episode, according to Esquire. The HBO anthology series explores the lives of an ultra-wealthy cast of characters at a lavish resort.
What To Know
In the pre-taped sketch, titled “The White POTUS,” SNL casts the Trump family (as well as the wider administration), as the characters featured in the most recent season of The White Lotus.
The Trumps take on the role of the Ratliffe’s in the skit, a Southern family plagued by financial woes and a crisis of morality. James Austin Johnson played Trump, in the role of Jason Isaacs’ Timothy Ratliffe, Chloe Fineman portrayed Melania Trump, as Parker Posey’s character, Victoria Ratliffe, Mikey Day took the role of Donald Trump Jr. as Patrick Schwarzenegger’s character Saxon, Alex Moffat plays Eric Trump as Sam Nivola’s Lochlan and Scarlett Johansson appears as Ivanka Trump, in the role of Sarah Catherine Hook’s Piper.
“We are so lucky that America will always be a rich and powerful nation. I mean, can you imagine how awful it would be if America lost all its money and no one in the world respected us anymore?” Fineman’s Melania says at the dinner table.
We then see Johnson’s Trump opening an article that reads, “Trump Triggers Worldwide Recession,” as Melania says, “You would never let our economy go to pieces. Right, hun?”
This is a nod to Trump’s recent tariffs and mirrors the dark financial secret that the Ratliffe family patriarch is hiding in the show. Elsewhere in the skit, we see Johnson’s Trump popping McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets to ease the pain, in a nod to the Ratliffe’s lorazepam habit.
We then see the cast take on the wider Trump administration. Jon Hamm portrays Robert F. Kennedy Jr., taking on the role of Walton Goggins’ Rick, while Sarah Sherman plays Aimee Lou Wood’s Chelsea, and Lizzo plays Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda.
The skit ends with Day’s Donald Trump Jr. in a similar shocking scene to Saxon in The White Lotus, and is seen getting intimate with Tiger Woods, played by Kenan Thompson. In real life, Woods is dating Trump Jr.’s ex-wife.
What People Are Saying
One social media user on X, formerly Twitter, responding to the skit: “The White Lotus sketch was absolutely BRILLIANT”
Another social media user wrote on X: “This is one of the funniest skits y’all have ever done.”
Another social media user wrote on X: “My God, that was horrible.”
What’s Next
The next episode of SNL will air on May 3. Quinta Brunson will host and Benson Boone will be the musical guest.
Read the full article here
