‘Saturday Night Live’ Opens With An Overcompensating Pete Hegseth Pumping Up His Plans To Stream A Live Execution

Saturday Night Live opened with a sketch in which Colin Jost played Pete Hegseth addressing sailors on the USS Lincoln, mocking the defence secretary’s tough-guy image and his plans to livestream an execution. The sketch also lampooned reported hardship aboard the ship and controversy around a new Department of War eagle logo.

The article says the ship had been at sea for 265 days without a port call, amid reports of poor conditions and low morale. The Pentagon confirmed plans to stream the December execution of Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring dozens at Fort Hood; lawmakers from both parties and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ president have criticised the plan. A cameo by James Austin Johnson as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. referenced recalled meat and the ship’s role in testing it.