'SNL' joins the military plans group chat

When it comes to political satire, "Saturday Night Live" has had no end of possible material lately, and for its spring opener, the recent Signal group chat involving Trump administration officials and The Atlantic's editor-in-chief was almost unavoidable.

When it comes to political satire, "Saturday Night Live" has had no end of possible material lately, and for its spring opener, the recent Signal group chat involving Trump administration officials and The Atlantic's editor-in-chief was almost unavoidable.

The show returned from a two-week hiatus and dove into the debacle in which top leaders in the Trump administration used the Signal app to discuss military moves against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said he set up the Signal text chat and mistakenly invited The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who revealed its existence and published a transcript of the exchange. It shows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the timing of planned airstrikes, but not specific targets, for the March 15 attack.

The cold open from "Saturday Night Live" on Saturday, March 29, 2025, parodied a group chat that inadvertently included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief in a discussion that detailed U.S. military attack plans.NBCIn "SNL"'s version of events, the chat group included three teenage girls, played by Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman and host Mikey Madison. They were flummoxed over strange texts from Hegseth, played by Andrew Dismukes.

"Tomahawks airborne 15 minutes ago," he said, reading out his texts as he typed. “Who’s ready to glass some Houthi rebels?” He concluded by reading aloud the inclusion of multiple flag emojis, one fire emoji and one eggplant.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/snl-joins-military-plans-group-chat-rcna198749

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