SNL's Kate McKinnon Skewers Laura Ingraham's Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

McKinnon expertly impersonated Ingraham and lampooned Fox News Channel's alarmist coverage of the migrant caravan.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

November 03 2018 11:40 PM EST

October 31 2024 6:08 AM EST

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Saturday Night Live hilariously skewered the Fox News Channel's hyperbolic coverage of the Central American migrant caravan in its opening sketch, with Kate McKinnon doing a spot-on impression of Laura Ingraham at her xenophobic worst.

McKinnon as Ingraham warned of the "millions of illegal immigrants" (the real number is a few thousand) heading for the U.S. and defended Donald Trump against charges of racism, saying, "Except for his words and actions throughout his life, how is he racist?" She also lamented that certain terms, such as "white nationalist," are now considered "bad."

She was joined by Cecily Strong as fellow Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who claimed the caravan included "Guatemalans, Mexicans, ISIS, the Menendez brothers, the 1990 Detroit Pistons ... and several Babadooks." And Kenan Thompson made an appearance as David Clarke, the anti-immigrant former sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wis.

The opener also got in a dig at frequent SNL guest and Trump portrayer Alec Baldwin, calling him a "disgraced former actor." Baldwin was charged with assault and harassment Friday after a dispute over a New York City parking place with a man he's accused of punching; in a series of tweets, he denied hitting the man.