Saturday Night Live’s Cold Open Features Rittenhouse Judge Accidentally Calling Acquitted Defendant ‘My Client’

Cecily Strong reprised her role as Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to parody aspects of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and real-life Pirro’s coverage of the trial in Saturday Night Live’s cold open.

“Out top story, Kyle Rittenhouse, was acquitted of all charges,” Pirro said. “That lovable scamp was put through a nightmare of a trial just for doing the bravest thing any American can do — protecting an empty used car lot in someone else’s town.”

Rittenhouse had faced five charges relating to his shooting of three men during protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which left him paralyzed. Two of the men were killed.

Pirro then brought on the case’s presiding judge, Bruce Schroeder. Schroeder faced criticism and allegations of bias.

“Now, if I may say, judge to judge, what turned me on the most was how you ruled that courtroom with an iron fist,” Pirro said. “Tell us how you did it.”

“Well, it was all standard procedure,” Schroeder replied. “That’s why I ordered that the prosecution not use the word ‘victims.’ They were rioters, and they weren’t shot, they were gadoinked. But that did not give my client an unfair advantage in any way.”

“Now, you said ‘my client,’ do you mean the defendant?” asked Pirro.

“Oh, yes. Sure,” he said. “I keep doing that.”

Pirro then pivoted to cover a few other headlines of the week, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) delivering a more than eight-hour long speech  in an attempt to delay a vote on the Build Back Better Act and President Joe Biden‘s colonoscopy.

The end of the cold open featured a long, rambling one-on-one interview with former President Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson.

Watch above, via SNL

This post has been corrected to reflect that the police shooting left Blake paralyzed