Michael Che Faces Major Backlash Over "Nasty" Trump Joke — Here's What He Actually Said

Saturday Night Live host Michael Che has come under fire for a joke that he made recently about President Donald Trump. Michael noted during the mock news segment on the show that President Trump was scheduled to go the Kennedy Center to watch Chicago.

Regarding this, Michael said, “The president is going to the theatre, I mean, what's the worst that can happen?”

The internet erupted around this for two separate reasons — one, the joke was in reference to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and two, President Trump was himself the subject of such an attempt during his 2024 presidential run.

More recently, former WWE star Jesse Ventura faced criticism for suggesting that the assassination attempt on President Trump might have been a false flag operation. The shooting that injured the president on his right ear claimed the life of a fireman who was at present the rally where the assassination attempt took place.

President Trump was running for the office of president for the third time when the assassination attempt occurred. His 2016 bout with Hilary Clinton won him the presidential election for the first time, while Joe Biden put the real estate mogul out of the Oval Office in 2020. In the run-up to the 2024 elections, President Trump began his campaign as the Republican nominee early and was significantly better prepared.

The attempt to assassinate President Trump took place in July 2024 when he was giving a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks opened fire at a campaign rally where the then-presidential candidate was present. Although there were no severe injuries sustained by President Trump, a bullet grazed past the president's right ear.

The president was able to duck behind the podium and take cover for safety as the Secret Service quickly shielded him. Thomas, 20, was shot down by law enforcement officers soon after.

Due to the subject of Michael's joke, the punchline did not sit well with a of a number of netizens, who criticized the television personality for his insensitive take on the matter. While there were some who found humor in the joke, the response to Michael’s comments was overwhelmingly negative.

One user wrote on X, “'SNL' fake-news anchor Michael Che joked about Trump seeing 'Chicago' at the Kennedy Center, makes a Lincoln-assassination joke. That's nasty, but the show's blue-state audience whooped and screamed in blood l**t at the thought. Nobody you can hear in this joke sounds like a decent human being.”

Another user commented, “Would SNL "joke" about President Obama like this? Would liberals find it funny if they did? We all know the answer. Democrats are anti-American, deranged sociopaths.”

While there are those that strongly believe that the joke was in bad taste, others have suggested that the "blue-state audience" that SNL often caters to is engaging in jokes in bad faith, thereby inviting violence on the president of the country.