SNL Seemingly Cracks a Joke About the Idea of Trump Getting Assassinated — Audience Cheers Wildly

The Saturday Night Live crowd in New York City reveled in a Michael Che joke which seemed to be about the idea of President Donald Trump getting assassinated in a manner similar to Abraham Lincoln — with attendees inside Studio 8H at 30 Rock loudly cheering and clapping in approval right after he delivered the punchline.

Che made the following joke during “Weekend Update”:

President Trump attended the opening night of Chicago at the Kennedy Center. And I think that’s cool that the president is going to the theater. I mean…what’s the worst that could happen?

The veteran SNL cast member raised his eyebrows, smirked, and raised his hands upward as he made the joke. And the crowd ate it up, letting out a few hoots and clapping hard for it. Co-anchor Colin Jost seemed to get a kick out of it too, with Jost smiling from ear-to-ear and shrugging when the camera panned back to him.

Che’s joke was a seemingly clear reference to President Lincoln getting shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. in April 1865, days after the Civil War ended. Assassin John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head while he watched the comedy Our American Cousin.

Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts over the past several years. The most serious of those — which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania in mid-2024 — saw a bullet graze Trump’s ear. Former fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was attending a Trump campaign rally with his family, was shot and killed by the would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who himself was shot and killed by Secret Service agents.

A man named Ryan Routh was convicted of trying to kill Trump a few months later at his West Palm Beach Golf Course on Sept. 15, 2024. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh with a sniper rifle and took one shot at him before Routh ran away and jumped into a black Nissan Xterra. Based on information provided by an eyewitness, Routh was arrested while heading northbound on I-95 by local officers.

Beyond the eyewitness, a large amount of physical and digital evidence tied Routh to the crime. Investigators presented a letter he gave to someone in the months before his assassination attempt where he said “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.”

Routh was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted killing earlier this year.

Watch above via NBC.

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