Saturday Night Live aired its final episode of the year on December 20, 2025, and the show did not miss the opportunity to take shots at Donald Trump amid the burning issue of the Epstein files release.
On December 19, the Department of Justice released a chunk of the controversial files, but kept several pages of information heavily redacted and blacked out.
SNL Weekend Update hosts, Michael Che and Colin Jost, alongside Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson, took shots at the President over the Epstein files controversy in their signature style.
During the SNL Cold Open sketch, Johnson appeared as the President to address the nation. After some regular digs at the POTUS, he brought up the renaming of the Kennedy Center to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Johnson joked that the Republican leader of the nation had to put his name on so many buildings as he had to “take it off of so many files,” earning loud cheers and laughter from the audience.
Trump delivers a holiday message from the White House pic.twitter.com/37WpSWYYDd
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) December 21, 2025
He then mocked the President for his frequent use of the R-slur and said ‘redacted’ is his second favorite R-word, referring to the blacked-out information in the Epstein files.
Shortly after, Johnson displayed a fake Epstein document on the monitor. Amid the redacted text, the only words that were visible read, “Trump… didn’t… do… nothing… bad,” followed by, “Trump… does… smash… but… not… like… wrong… kind. The end.”
The impersonator then asked the audience, “See, it’s all there. Can you believe it?” Johnson went on to mock the upcoming Patriot Games, alluding to the event as a means to distract the audience from the Epstein files.
The comedian said, “That’s right, the White House will be hosting the Patriot Games for high school athletes to compete. Because I thought, What’s the best way to distract from the Epstein files?”
Following the Cold Open, it was Michael Che and Colin Jost’s turn to fire shots at Trump on SNL Weekend Update.
Again, the redacted Epstein files became a hot topic of discussion as Che remarked, “I guess they kept running out of black ink.”
Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che! pic.twitter.com/3BL2DoipEe
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) December 21, 2025
Jost added to the joke and said, “Honestly, it’s not fair. Donald Trump was my favorite character in the Epstein files.”
“It’s like when House of Cards stopped starring Kevin Spacey—probably because he had booked a recurring role in the Epstein files,” he joked.
The hosts also took a jibe at Melania Trump. Referring to a picture that showed Bill Clinton with Michael Jackson, Che remarked, “Those files were so boring, the only interesting thing I saw was this picture of Bill Clinton hugged up on Melania.”
The SNL hosts aren’t the only people taking digs at the Trump administration since the Epstein files release.
Social media is abuzz with posts against the Department of Justice, with people calling out Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to follow the law and releasing the entire unredacted version of the documents.
