‘Saturday Night Live UK’ star responds to Donald Trump sharing sketch mocking Keir Starmer
In an exclusive interview with Far Out, Saturday Night Live UK star Hammed Animashaun has responded to Donald Trump sharing a sketch from the first episode.
Like with the US version of the sketch show, the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live UK, which aired on Sky on March 21st, began with the ‘Cold Open’ segment.
For the first ‘Cold Open’, George Fouracres was tasked with playing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while Animashaun was his foil as the Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, and Jack Shep expertly played a hapless Gen-Z advisor.
The butt of the joke was Starmer being frightened to death by Donald Trump, which earned a laugh out of the President of the United States.
On March 22nd, less than 24 hours after the segment aired, Trump shared the clip from Saturday Night Live UK with his millions of followers on Truth Social without any further comment attached, which caused headlines across the globe.
Speaking to Far Out in an exclusive interview, which took place on March 23rd, Animashaun claimed to be unaware of Trump approving the skit, saying in response to the revelation, “Did he? Well, that’s crazy.”
Shortly afterwards, upon having a moment to process that Trump took it upon himself to endorse the sketch, Animashaun added, “That’s mental.”
After being asked about Trump using the sketch as a political football to poke fun at Starmer, Animashaun kept his cards close to his chest, adding, “That’s the thing about social media. I kind of view social media as an art. So you can interpret it however you want. So if that’s how you see it, then that’s amazing.”
In the same interview, the Olivier Award-nominated Saturday Night Live star also provided a peak behind the curtain into his experience of working with Tina Fey, who guest-hosted the first episode.
He shared, “Tina’s incredible. We’ve been so privileged and honoured to have her as part of the team. The stamp that she left on SNL and continues to leave on that institution is something that you can’t ignore.”
Animashaun then gushed, “What better teacher to have? What better sensei to have than Tina Fey?”
Saturday Night Live UK is set to return on March 28th at 10pm on Sky One with guest host Jamie Dornan and musical guests Wolf Alice.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.