Earlier this week, Rob Schneider said he thinks SNL is "over," explaining the moment he thought it happened. He cited the sketch where Kate McKinnon is sitting at a piano singing “Hallelujah” as Hillary Clinton after the presidential candidate lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump. Alec Baldwin, who impersonated the former president on SNL throughout the last six years responded to those comments.
McKinnon has spoken about the "Hallelujah" sketch before, noting it made her feel connected to the audience. The sketch in question has 12.9 million views on YouTube, so it's certainly made an impact on viewers. Along with his comments about McKinnon, Schneider commented on Baldwin’s impression, saying he had “nothing but a fuming, seething anger toward” his Trump. The 30 Rock actor then responded to those comments on his Instagram, saying:
I guess it must be an incredibly slow news cycle if we’re talking about Rob Schneider’s thoughts about Kate McKinnon playing Hillary Clinton you know so many years ago. We started that in 2017, 2016 during the campaign. And then in November, he was elected, unbelievably, and we did the show and I did it for those four years. A lot the first year, a little less the second year, less the third year and not a whole lot the fourth year.
After Trump won the election in 2016, Baldwin’s impression became a mainstay on SNL throughout his years as president. As his term went on, Baldwin showed up a bit less, however, he said if he was asked to come back to play Trump he probably would. The actor appeared again as Trump during the 2020 election cycle, the “First Debate Cold Open” featured Baldwin’s Trump and Jim Carrey as Joe Biden.
Baldwin explained his thoughts about Schneider's opinions on SNL being over and what he thinks about a former cast member of the show saying such things.
I just want to say one thing which is, you know, I’m from the school, having been in this business for a while, where you criticize someone’s judgment and you leave out the idea where you had no problem with their judgment, you had no problem with their judgment when they hired you. When that judgment led them to hire you, put you on the show. And of course, Rob Schneider had a great mind, he’s funny, Rob’s very, very funny.
The actor then complimented Schneider's humor before continuing to speak about his opinions on political commentators and pundits.
Alec Baldwin has not appeared on SNL since 2020. Now, one of the show’s new cast members James Austin Johnson has taken over the impression, and fans have had strong reactions to it.
The newcomer will be in SNL’s upcoming 48th season along with Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson and other fan favorites. However, many are leaving. At the end of Season 47, the departure of Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson was announced, along with other long-time cast members. Recently, it was also announced that Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari are exiting and would no longer be on the show.
The Fall TV schedule shows that there isn't a premiere date for the veteran sketch comedy series yet, but with all these exits and all this brouhaha, it should be interesting to see how the new season shakes out.
