Katie Miller, wife of incoming White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, went after “Saturday Night Live” on X this weekend.
Her target was a Weekend Update sketch about Elon Musk and his children.
“SNL is literally the antithesis of comedy and satire. It takes weak men to take cheap shots — especially about @elonmusk’s kids,” Miller wrote.
She kept going.
“Elon is a devoted dad who prioritizes time with his kids and it’s obvious they absolutely adore him. This is just a political hit job masquerading under the banner of comedy. Make comedy actually funny again,” she added.
Her post responded to a bit in which cast member Jeremy Culhane played Musk. Colin Jost, the segment’s anchor, interviewed him about Grok, the AI bot built by Musk’s company xAI.
“What is a vulgar roast?” Jost asked. Culhane answered in a stuttering imitation of Musk’s voice. “It’s my AI Grok’s most epic, hardcore feature,” Culhane said. “It’s so vulgar and hilariously funny.”
Culhane then took out a phone and stammered through a request. “Grok, do like an, you know… Do like an, you know… Do like an epic vulgar roast of me, Elon Musk,” he said.
A robotic voice answered.
“Elon Musk, you’re the worst thing South Africa has ever done. When you’re on TV, it feels like an episode of hate on the spectrum. Maybe if you have 100 more kids, one of them will talk to you.”
Replies to Miller’s post split, though several users backed her. “Fact. It’s just another democratic propaganda machine,” one person wrote. A second said, “It’s difficult to find any humor in today’s comedy.”
A third user went further. “And they aren’t even good at it. SNL hasn’t been funny since the 80s,” that person added.
Miller was not the only critic of the broadcast. The same Weekend Update drew fire from the left, and the trigger was a joke built around the midterm results.
The segment centered on the sweeping Democratic victories from last week’s elections.
Michigan produced one of the most high-profile wins, with Abdul El-Sayed claiming a US Senate seat. He is the first Muslim to win a seat in the upper chamber of Congress.
“Abdul El-Sayed made history as the first Muslim…” Jost began. The studio crowd cut him off with cheers and applause, louder than at any other point in the segment.
“The first Muslim elected to the Senate,” Jost continued. “Well, first openly Muslim,” he then said. A picture of former President Barack Obama appeared beside him.
The photo appeared to reference unfounded conspiracy theories, circulating for more than 20 years, that Obama practices Islam.
Jost glanced at the image with a smirk. The audience laughed, but the line landed softer than several of his other jokes.
Jost next turned to El-Sayed’s views on Senate leadership. “El-Sayed hinted that he would like to see Chuck Schumer replaced as Senate majority leader,” he said.
“But if I had just gone through the campaign he did, I don’t think my first move would be: “Get rid of the Jewish guy!”” Jost joked.
Critics have accused El-Sayed of antisemitism.
They cite his staunch anti-Israel position, his association with political commentator Hasan Piker, and his remark that “hurt people hurt people” after an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue.
El-Sayed apologized for that remark months later. He has repeatedly denounced antisemitism and says his objection is to the Israeli government, not to Jewish people as a whole.
Users on X reacted with anger. Some labeled the jokes “Islamophobic,” while others called Jost and the show “Zionist.”
“Yikes, this is really bad, like already attacking Abdul even if it’s a “joke” in this way is really vile,” one user wrote. Another posted, “Oh no SNL are Zionists, shock, awe.”
A third user wrote, “Colin not beating the zionist accusations… and still not funny after all these years.”
