{"id":377345,"date":"2026-04-06T05:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377345\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T05:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:03:24","slug":"snl-skewers-iran-war-artemis-ii-nasa-mission-in-march-madness-cold-open-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377345\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018SNL\u2019 Skewers Iran War, Artemis II NASA Mission in March Madness Cold Open | Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenan Thompson\u2019s Charles Barkley could not stop interrupting a March Madness panel show in tonight\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d<\/a> cold open with thoughts about the Iran War, the Artemis II mission, live Kalshi betting<\/a> and some shade toward former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Host Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson) began the night by thanking Barkley for his recent comments about the Trump administration\u2019s treatment of immigrants. His praise launched Thompson\u2019s former NBA star into a string of loosely connected political statements, including a call for the war in Iran to end and a dig at the Artemis II NASA mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I say something real quick?\u201d Thompson\u2019s Barkley asked, before remarking, \u201cThe Artemis II space mission is a waste of money. I respect the astronauts, but they ain\u2019t even going to the moon! They\u2019re flying around the moon! What\u2019s the point of that? It\u2019s like telling your kids you\u2019re going to Disney World, and then you just take them to Goofy Lot D and go home. I mean, the mission is wrong, and we need to end it!\u201d Later on, he turned his attention to Bondi.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs attorney general, Pam Bondi was, and I don\u2019t say this often, terrible,\u201d Thompson\u2019s Barkley said. \u201cIt is a shame when somebody gets fired<\/a>, but we should all be glad that that freckle-chested dragon lady is gone!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not long before Bondi herself (played by \u201cSNL\u201d star Ashley Padilla) arrived to crash the panel. You can watch tonight\u2019s \u201cSNL\u201d cold open yourself below.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s panel leader eventually cut in, announcing, \u201cFellas, I have a surprising development. Since Charles has been talking politics, the FCC has demanded that we give equal time. So here to defend herself \u2026 is former Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a>!\u201d Padilla, who has also played former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on a number of occasions, then slid into frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo great to be here at the Final Four \u2026 years of this country,\u201d Padilla\u2019s Bondi said. When Thompson\u2019s Barkley asked what she was doing on the show\u2019s set, she responded, \u201cI can\u2019t let the lies you said about me go unanswered. The truth is, I was amazing at my job, and I am proud to say I made history as the first woman ever to be fired as attorney general. I shattered that glass exit door!\u201d<\/p>\n

Padilla\u2019s Bondi subsequently broke down into tears, revealing, \u201cOh my God, I miss it already! And they threw my headshot in the trash like it was the Epstein Files!\u201d<\/p>\n

The post \u2018SNL\u2019 Skewers Iran War, Artemis II NASA Mission in March Madness Cold Open | Video<\/a> appeared first on TheWrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kenan Thompson\u2019s Charles Barkley could not stop interrupting a March Madness panel show in tonight\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[180877,180878,85,87,46,58280,58279,46942,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-377345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-charles-barkley","9":"tag-ernie-johnson","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-james-austin-johnson","14":"tag-kenan-thompson","15":"tag-pam-bondi","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}