The season premiere, which features Megan Thee Stallion as musical guest, is also the second most-watched for the series in 12 years following the premiere prior to the 2016 election.
- Oct 5, 2020
AceShowbiz - "Saturday Night Live" made a grand return with season 46 on October 3. The season premiere, which featured Jim Carrey as Joe Biden while Chris Rock was hosting, was reportedly the most-watched episode in 4 years.
According to Deadline, over 7.7 million viewers tuned into the episode which arrived exactly one month before the 2020 election on November 3. The episode is also the second most-watched for the series in 12 years following the premiere prior to the 2016 election. Additionally, it marked the most-watched entertainment telecast of the week.
Featuring Maya Rudolph reprising her role as Joe's running mate Kamala Harris, one of the skits in the episode tackled the most recent presidential debate. It also referenced to Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis with Alec Baldwin's Trump pulling out his "mask" which transpired to be a pair of underwear.
"Will you just shut up, man?" Carrey's Biden imitated the Democrat's now-famous retort to the president from the real debate. He also made a reference to Trump's "dog whistle" comments on white supremacism and Proud Boys. "The president of the United States is literally blowing a dog whistle," he said.
In addition, the episode saw Megan Thee Stallion serving as musical guest. While performing her song "Savage", the 25-year-old rapper had a message written across the screen behind her, slamming Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his handling of the investigation into Breonna Taylor's death. "Daniel Cameron is no different than the sellout Negroes that sold our people into slavery," the message directed at the black Republican state leader read.
Megan also took time to advocate for the protection of black women and men in America, insisting, "We need to protect our black women and love our black women. 'Cause at the end of the day, we need our black women. We need to protect our black men and stand up for our black men. 'Cause at the end of the day we're tired of seeing hashtags of our black men."
