SNL put Bill O’Reilly in a body bag over sexual harassment
By Josh Hill
Saturday Night Live put Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in a body bag over his recent sexual harassment accusations.
SNL has been off for a while, but this past week seemed to give the show plenty of ammo to come right out of the gate firing. The cold open featured Alec Baldwin returning as Donald Trump in a bit that trolled his supporters losing faith in him over his false campaign promises.
Baldwin came back as Trump in the cold open but his night wasn’t done. After the Weekend Update, Baldwin returned to play a new character — Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. The skit was meant to address the sexual harassment allegations that were brought against the host, and “hard in the paint” doesn’t even begin to describe how harsh SNL was.
“Did she say no, but did her eyes say yes?”, Baldwin quipped as O’Reilly. That was one of a handful of body blows that SNL landed well below the belt on the host, something that not many will pretend to have too hard of a time with.
One of the highlights of the bit was when we got a double dose of Baldwin. At one point, Baldwin as O’Reilly interviewed Baldwin as Trump, and it was hilarious.
There were zero punches held here and every easy joke that could have been had was laid out there. It drew groans from the audience but it was a smattering of groans in reaction to the direct shots SNL was taking at O’Reilly and Trump for being accused of sexual harassment. There wasn’t any cleverness to it, which was the clever part. Most of it wasn’t even a joke, it was stating facts.
It will no doubt be a skit that runs some people the wrong way but it’s further proof that SNL won’t hold back this season when it comes to leading the charge of counterculture.