SNL’s Colin Jost Stunned By Brutal Taboo-Touching Trump-As-Pope Weekend Update Gag

Tommy ChristopherMay 11th, 2025, 8:41 am

Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost literally dropped his jaw at a taboo Michael Che joke about President Donald Trump’s AI transformation into Pope Trump just days before new Pope Leo XIV was selected.

Walton Goggins of White Lotus fame was the guest on this week’s edition of Saturday Night Live, capping off the show’s 50th season with some buzzworthy sketches. The Arcade Fire was the musical guest, and James Austin Johnson sent Trump up during the cold open.

But many fans of the sketch show wait around just to see the musical guest, and then catch the weekly nightly news parody currently anchored by Jost and Che. A semi-regular feature of the season finales is a take-no-prisoners “joke swap” segment in which they write extra-provocative gags for the other to read

The Season 50 Weekend Update finale did not include that feature, but it did include a shot at Trump and catholicism that Jost perhaps tried to cushion with a shocked expression:

MICHAEL CHE: Thank you. Thanks, good evening everyone. Welcome to Weekend Update, I’m Michael Che.

COLIN JOST: I’m Colin Jost.

Well, the Catholic Church has elected the first-ever Pope from America. And as an American Catholic, I could not be more proud, which is a sin, and now I’m ashamed.

The Vatican has selected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who is from the south side of Chicago, to be the new pope. And you can tell he’s from the South side because he’s got his hands up.

This pic was actually a welcome surprise for me because when I heard the pope was a super religious guy from Chicago in a funny robe, I was worried it was Kanye.

I also love that conservatives are already complaining that this pope is too woke. How woke can a 69-year-old man from Chicago be? It’s not like he came out and was like, hey, I’m Pope Leo XIV, he/him.

The reality is there are no woke Catholics. If you’re a woke Catholic, you’re just not Catholic anymore.

MICHAEL CHE: Joe Biden appeared on The View where he said he wasn’t surprised Kamala Harris lost the election because the only thing that surprises Joe Biden are the words that come out of his own mouth.

President Trump says he will appoint Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Pirro celebrated the news with a bottle of wine every day for the last 50 years.

COLIN JOST: President Trump also announced a new trade deal with the U.K. That will reopen British markets for American companies. All that Britain demands in return is that we keep these two.

Insiders are saying that President Trump is trying to create tension between his potential successors Marco Rubio and JD Vance, mostly by pointing at them and saying, “kiss.”

MICHAEL CHE: President Trump announced plans for a 100% tariff on movies made outside the US, which is no problem for me, because all the movies I watched were filmed in Florida condo on a leather couch. Thank you very much.

If you laughed, you’re a fan, too. President Trump said he was interested in reopening Alcatraz because it represents something horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable and weak, which are also his nicknames for his five children.

COLIN JOST: A new report shows that there have been at least nine incidents at Newark airport where air traffic controllers have lost contact with planes that were about to land. But luckily it’s Newark so planes can just follow the smell.

MICHAEL CHE: Insiders at the FBI are concerned that director Kash Patel is not at work enough and is often seen attending sporting events with celebrities. But like his eyes, Patel can be in two places at once.

COLIN JOST: The White House marked Star Wars Day by posting an AI-generated picture of President Trump as a muscle-bound Jedi. And they also posted a picture of JD the Hutt.

Flattering.

COLIN JOST: The first week of jury selection in the Sean Combs trial has ended without a jury being selected. Well, yeah, I mean, where are you going to find 12 people who haven’t had sex with Diddy?

MICHAEL CHE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams met with President Trump yesterday to discuss the city’s concerns, namely that Trump’s deportations have dramatically cut New York’s supply of thick shorties. I love that makeup.

President Trump says Catholics loved an image he posted of him dressed as the pope last week, but I just find it hard to believe that anyone in the Catholic Church would be into something so juvenile.

(GROANS AND LAUGHTER).