Updated April 12, 2026, 12:51 a.m. ET
“Saturday Night Live” is taking on first lady Melania Trump‘s “big, random” Epstein speech.
The show kicked off its April 11 episode with a sketch covering an eventful week of news, with James Austin Johnson playing President Donald Trump and making a series of phone calls in the Oval Office. One of the calls was with his wife, who this week held an unusual press event where she denied having any knowledge of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse.
In the sketch, Melania Trump (Chloe Fineman) said she “decided I should do a big, random speech, completely out of nowhere,” about Epstein, only for the president to tell her that this “sounds a little insane.” He asked, “Who are you, me?”
“It’s not just Epstein,” she said. “I thought I could also say, ‘I, Melania Trump, in no way helped out the Gilgo Beach serial killer.’ That way, no one is suspicious.”
Despite Trump pointing out this would only increase suspicion, the first lady suggested in the sketch she should also announce that she “barely partied with Diddy.”
Johnson’s Trump also called Tiger Woods (Kenan Thompson), telling the golfer, “If only there were something I could have done to help” after Woods’ recent DUI, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost). Hegseth assured Trump that Iran is “as obliterated as me every Saturday night, allegedly,” adding, “You also probably heard that I want to start a draft again, which is a great sign for the ceasefire.”
But Trump told Hegseth he had employed a secret weapon by sending Vice President JD Vance in to help with negotiations. “After those Iranians spent 20 hours talking to JD, they said, ‘Please, sir, just go back to bombing us.’ “
The sketch also featured Trump dictating his controversial Easter Sunday post about Iran, which ended with “Praise be to Allah.” In the cold open, Johnson’s Trump called this a “sarcastic attack on the world’s largest religion. They famously have a great sense of humor about that kind of stuff.”
The sketch was a return to the show’s usual format of opening with a Trump-focused sketch. “SNL” took a break from the president last week, kicking the show off with a cold open depicting NCAA Final Four post-game coverage. Johnson’s Trump character wasn’t featured, though the sketch still did get political with an appearance by the recently fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi, played by Ashley Padilla.
Colman Domingo made his hosting debut on the April 11 episode with musical guest Anitta. This is the last new “SNL” episode of April, as the show is scheduled to take a few weeks off before returning in early May.
Who’s hosting ‘SNL’ next?
“SNL” will next be hosted on May 2 by Olivia Rodrigo, who is doing double duty as both host and musical guest. It will be Rodrigo’s hosting debut, though she has been the musical guest twice before.
The following week, Matt Damon will return to host for the third time with musical guest Noah Kahan on May 9. Will Ferrell will then host the “SNL” season finale on May 16 with musical guest Paul McCartney. “SNL” is set to be off for the summer after that, with Season 52 debuting in the fall.
