'SNL' cold open takes sly dig at Donald Trump for supporting Putin amid Russia-Ukraine war

This week's Saturday Night Live began with a Fox News 'Ukrainian Invasion Celebration Spectacular' hosted by Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat who played Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson respectively. While last week the American late-night television show opened a plea for peace for Ukraine with a choir crooning 'Prayer for Ukraine', a poignant anthem of the country. However, this week things turned a bit different with the show mocking Donald Trump and others, who have previously spoken in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

SNL mocks Putin supporters

SNL Cold open featured a telivised event broadcasting from Trump's tony country club in West Palm, Florida. “Now, Laura, we got into a little bit of trouble for all the nice things we said about Russia and the mean things we said about Ukraine,” said Carlson. “I kept asking, why do we hate Putin? Aren’t liberals in America even worse?”

Ingraham added “And I called the president of Ukraine pathetic. He stayed and fought with his people in the war, and I called him pathetic from a news desk in Washington". Carlson then came up with yet another hilarious counter and said, “I kept saying we should be more worried about our own border getting invaded by Mexico, but in my defense, I am racist, so I thought that was true.” After this the two hosts revealed their special was to raise money for the 'real victims' of the invasion - 'the oligachs'.

Then entered former American President Donald Trump (Played by James Austin Johnson) who operated the phone lines of their hotline. However, instead of focusing on raising money for Ukraine was more interested in Rihanna's public appearance while pregnancy, Biden, French Prince reboot and burgers. The sketch ended with Trump dedicating a song for Vladimir Putin. “Your looks are laughable, unphotographable, yet you’re my favorite work of art,” he sang. Watch a glimpse of SNL cold open below:

Russia-Ukraine War

A third round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held Monday, said Davyd Arakhamia, head of the parliamentary faction of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party and a member of Ukraine's delegation at the talks. The last round was held in Belarus. Further details, including where the third peacetalks will take place is yet unknown.

(With inputs from AP, Image: Twitter/@nbcsnl, AP)