• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 1, 2025

All eyes will be on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend to see how the show will adapt -- or defiantly not adapt -- to the new age of late-night censorship ushered in by President Trump and his weaponized FCC.

Among Lorne Michaels’ many skills as the boss of “SNL” for 45 seasons is a talent for interpreting and understanding cultural trends and tailoring the show to accommodate them. At the same time, Michaels is no shrinking violet.

Has he been working behind the scenes to direct a toning down of the show’s customary satirizing of Trump in advance of Saturday’s 51st season premiere? Or will it be full speed ahead and damn the Trump torpedoes?

The TV Blog’s guess is that it will be the latter, although it is natural to assume that some NBC execs will be on edge this weekend.

"SNL" has long been in the business of spoofing Trump, and Trump has responded on social media with the usual capital letters and exclamation points. 

For several years, Trump was played famously by Alec Baldwin. Currently, Trump is being portrayed by cast member James Austin Johnson (seen in the above photo), who will be back this season.

As TV critic-in-chief, Trump has shown repeatedly that he is no fan of “SNL.” “Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me,” he tweeted in 2016 after one of Baldwin’s performances, according to online sources.

“Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!” Trump wrote.

To mark the start of the show’s 48th season in 2022, Trump blasted “SNL” again. “I once hosted Saturday Night Live [in November 2015], and the ratings were HUUUGE!” he wrote then.

“Now, however, the ratings are lower than ever before, and the show will probably be put to rest,” he continued. “It is just not, at these levels, sustainable -- A bad show that's not funny or smart. …  It was once good, never great, but now, like the Late Night Losers who have lost their audience but have no idea why, it is over for SNL -- A great thing for America!"

To spoof or not to spoof -- that is the question. Disney faced a backlash after the company yanked Kimmel in response to threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that the FCC is considering investigating Kimmel for inaccurate statements he made about the murder of Charlie Kirk, and imposing sanctions on ABC.

Disney CEO Robert Iger personally felt the heat as he became a symbol of Disney’s apparent surrender to the pressure -- his face posted on protest signs. 

In addition, subscribers canceled their Disney+ subscriptions in large enough numbers that it caused real concern at the company, said a story this week in The Wall Street Journal.

The story said powerful Hollywood agents informed Iger that their A-list clients were thinking twice about accepting Disney projects. Top stars signed a petition to persuade Disney to restore Kimmel.

NBC can avoid any of these downside results by fearlessly going ahead with poking fun at Trump just like it has always done.

And if the FCC picks a fight, parent company Comcast should just fight it with the best resource the company has available -- pots and pots of money.

The message from the TV biz to Trump ought to be: See you in court!