A Recap of the Nikki Glaser's 'SNL' Drama, in Case You Missed It

While most of us often think of comedian Nikki Glaser as one of the “roasters” at just about every celebrity roast, she’s really coming into her own and becoming a mainstream comedian. And because of that, she’s been able to level up her hosting gigs in a big way. November 2025 marked her first time ever hosting Saturday Night Live (SNL), and she was later selected to host the 2026 Golden Globe Awards, airing on Jan. 11, 2026.

While we can admit that Nikki is becoming more widely known and even her jokes seem a little sharper, there’s a bit of controversy that still seems to follow her and it stems from her time on SNL. In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the SNL drama Nikki found herself tangled in back in 2025.

Nikki Glaser found herself in the middle of some drama back in November 2025 after her set as host of SNL centered around sensitive topics like pedophilia and sexual assault. Many viewers took issue with the jokes, calling them offensive and inappropriate.

One joke involved getting her nails done, where she said, “You can’t talk to the woman doing your nails ‘cause slavery. I mean, I don’t know, she seems stuck and sad.” She then moved into a bit about s-x trafficking, referencing signs in women’s public bathroom stalls, and said, “They’re in every world language. I mean, English is really tiny, and it’s like ‘You wish,’” suggesting other places in the world experience trafficking more than women in America.

She added that in men’s bathrooms, these signs don’t exist, joking that they might have ones reading, “Want a slave? Text TRAFFIC to 6969.”

She then transitioned to a joke about her Gen Z friends, who she said are afraid of being trafficked, joking, “I don’t relate. I’m 41. That was not a fear of mine ever in my twenties. In my twenties, I just feared good old-fashioned rape.”

She added, “I didn’t think it would be a career. We didn’t think it was anything more than a ‘temp job’ on a frat house futon.” She even joked that her Gen Z friends feel safer around her because they think she’s their “madam,” maybe because she has a “resting Ghislaine face.”

Overall, the reactions were a bit mixed. While there were plenty of people who praised Nikki for being bold and delivering a seamless monologue, some viewers were pretty bothered by it. On X (formerly Twitter), one person wrote, “Nikki Glaser could have been funny, but she chose to be gross to get the most reaction. I guess it's working.”

Another called her set “disgusting,” someone else said the episode was “weak,” and one user admitted, “I could not believe what I was watching. [What] was this?! An all-time low for this show.” Another added they “shut it off after a minute because she was so offensive.”

Simply put, people didn’t like that Nikki was trying to make light of or joke about trafficking and even Epstein, because people have faced serious trauma from both, and some are still living through it. But others looked past that and thought she did a great job. One person even wrote under the YouTube clip of the set, “Omg her set STAYED right at the line of inappropriate, and I loved it lol.”