'SNL' Faces Furious Backlash Over Nikki Haley Appearance

Nikki Haley’s appearance on Saturday Night Live has sparked a backlash on social media.

The Republican presidential hopeful made a cameo during the show’s cold open as a “concerned South Carolina voter” wanting to ask Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, a question during a parody town hall.

“Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?” she asked the Trump character.

“Oh my God. It’s her, the woman who was in charge of security on January 6. It’s Nancy Pelosi,” Johnson’s Trump replied, referring to when Trump confused Haley with the former House Speaker.

“Are you doing OK, Donald? You might need a mental competency test,” Haley said.

And after Johnson’s Trump referenced the famous line from The Sixth Sense—”I see dead people”—Haley joked that it was “what voters will say if they see you and [President] Joe [Biden] on the ballot.”

The former U.N. ambassador is trailing Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. She has repeatedly questioned Trump’s mental competency on the campaign trail and argued that both Trump and Biden are too old to serve second terms as president.

Haley’s SNL cameo ended with her being confronted over not identifying slavery as the cause of the Civil War on the campaign trail. During a town hall in December, she said the war was about “how government was going to run” and the “what people could and couldn’t do.”

“I was just curious. What would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an ‘S’ and ends with a ‘lavery’?” Ayo Edebiri, the episode’s host, asked Haley.

Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on February 1, 2024. Haley made a cameo appearance on “Saturday Night Live” where she mocked Donald Trump.

AFP via Getty Images/Allison Joyce

“Yep, I probably should have said that the first time,” Haley replied, before ending the sketch with the traditional “and live from New York, it’s Saturday night.”

Following Haley’s appearance, many took to social media to bash SNL for giving her screen time.

Newsweek has contacted NBC and Haley’s campaign for comment via email.

Author Majid M. Padellan wrote: “Nikki Haley will only ever diss trump on a comedy show, and WTF is slavery denier doing on SNL anyway? Disgraceful, @nbcsnl.”

Aidan Kohn-Murphy, founder of Gen-Z for Change, wrote: “Nikki, there is no winking in our unabashed hatred for you. Your failure to identify slavery as the cause of the civil war was not a ‘gaffe,’ it was representative of your racist beliefs. Gross stuff from SNL.”

Nikki Haley is a horrible human being, this never should have happened. Nikki, there is no winking in our unabashed hatred for you. Your failure to identify slavery as the cause of the civil war was not a “gaffe,” it was representative of your racist beliefs. Gross stuff from SNL https://t.co/O79J19Zdxw

— Aidan Kohn-Murphy (@AidanKohnMurphy) February 4, 2024

Chris Williamson, a sportscaster, wrote: SNL inviting Nikki Haley during any month is egregious but doing it during 4th day of Black History Month…”

Others pointed to SNL’s record of cameos from politicians and political candidates. Trump even hosted the show in 2015 while running for president, sparking protests.

“Saturday Night Live sure does have a long track record of comedy-washing hateful conservatives,” activist Charlotte Clymer wrote on X.

Nikki Haley just appeared in the cold open for SNL.

Saturday Night Live sure does have a long track record of comedy-washing hateful conservatives.

— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) February 4, 2024

And another person wrote that SNL “platforming Nikki Haley shouldn’t be a surprise to people who remember Lorne Michaels platforming Donald J Trump for an entire hour while giving Hillary Clinton a one-off joke.”