SNL Season 51 opens with Bad Bunny; White House responds to cold open

Saturday Night Live opened its 51st season on October 4 with Bad Bunny hosting and Doja Cat as musical guest, kicking off the new year with a political cold open that drew a pointed response from the White House and marked a series of cast changes and behind‑the‑scenes continuity rooted in the show's five‑decade visual tradition. The sketch, which lampooned former president Donald Trump and Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, closed with the line "Remember Daddys watching," and prompted White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson to say in an email that reacting would "require me to waste my time watching it" and that she had "more entertaining things to do like watch paint dry."

The cold open cast James Austin Johnson in his recurring role as Trump, Colin Jost as a cable news personality, and Mikey Day as Carr. The sketch threaded references to recent controversies involving oversight of late‑night television and agency complaints, continuing SNL's long history of political satire. The White House response was sarcastic rather than confrontational, reflecting the polarized reception such sketches often produce.

Season 51 also arrives amid a modest reshuffle of the...