After Charles Barkley discussed immigration during a segment on March Madness, this week’s “Saturday Night Live” cold open began with him offering opinions on a range of other topics.
Portrayed by Kenan Thompson, Barkley swiftly moved beyond college basketball to address current events, such as U.S. involvement in Iran, stating, “War is terrible. Innocent people getting killed, and I don’t care who started it, but we need to end it.” He also commented on the Artemis II Moon Mission.
Thompson-as-Barkley criticized the space program as a “Waste of money,” noting, “They ain’t even going to the moon; they’re just flying around the moon.”
Later, Barkley addressed the dismissal of attorney general Pam Bondi by President Trump. Ashley Padilla, portraying Bondi, joined the segment.
Padilla-as-Bondi remarked, “So great to be here at the final four…years of this country,” and responded to Barkley’s remarks by saying, “I’m sorry, Charles, but I can’t let the lies you said about me go unanswered. The truth is I was amazing at my job, and I’m proud to say I made history as the first woman ever to be fired as attorney general. I shattered that glass exit door. I miss it already, and they threw my headshot into the trash like it was the Epstein files. What am I going to do?”
During a March 29 broadcast, Barkley spoke candidly after a segment highlighted student athlete Alex Karaban, whose parents immigrated to the United States.
“I want to be very careful with my words right now,” Barkley expressed. “Cause this is a really touchy subject for me. I love that kid and his family. But the way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace. I think there is a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants. And I think what’s going on in our country — what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants — is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.”
Watch the cold open below.
