New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- The Saturday Night Live (SNL) Season 51 premiere, aired on October 4, wasted no time addressing the recent political saga involving the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! The cold open framed the incident as a crackdown on late-night comedy by President Donald Trump.

The sketch began with Colin Jost, in a rare sketch appearance, playing a stiff and enraged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was demanding that members of the military lose weight. Hegseth declared the nation was facing the "greatest threat to freedom and democracy the world has ever known," only to be interrupted by James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, who declared the true threat was "late-night TV."

Johnson's Trump character appeared to mo...