Liberal 'SNL' takes swipe at ABC's 'biased' presidential debate in cold open: 'Duh'
The NBC sketch comedy show also mocked the first assassination attempt of former President Trump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Even the liberal writers of "Saturday Night Live" acknowledged that the ABC News presidential debate was "biased," taking a swipe at the Disney-owned network in the show's season premiere.
NBC's long-running sketch comedy show on Saturday began with cast member Andrew Dismukes appearing as "World News Tonight" anchor and debate co-moderator David Muir in the cold open.
"I had hoped the takeaway of the debate I moderated would be my striking good looks, but unfortunately, it was whether or not I was biased towards the Democrats, which… duh," Dismukes' Muir told viewers, sparking laughs from the audience.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ABC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
CBS NEWS CASTS A LONG SHADOW OF ANTI-TRUMP BIAS AHEAD OF ITS VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis have faced intense backlash for their handling of the first presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (ABC News)
"SNL" also appeared to make light of the first assassination attempt against former President Trump with cast member James Austin Johnson lampooning him giving a rally speech.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Where the hell is everyone going? Where are you going? I see you trying to leave, but the doors are locked. Come on back — we’re having fun. We love my rallies, except when someone does the ‘bing, bong, bing, bing, bing’ right at me," Johnson said as Trump. "You know that happened because of the rhetoric of the radical left. They say that me blaming the Democrats for inciting violence is the pot calling the kettle black, but frankly, I didn't know the kettle was black until very recently. I thought the kettle was Indian but then decided to turn black."
Additionally, during the "Weekend Update" segment, Colin Jost quipped that he was "starting to worry that bullet got a little more than just the ear," after playing a clip of Trump saying he had a better "body" than President Biden at a recent rally.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"SNL" cast member Andrew Dismukes played ABC's David Muir in the cold open of the show's season premiere. (Screenshot/NBC; Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty Images)
ABC News has faced intense backlash for its hyperpartisan debate where Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis repeatedly fact-checked Trump and asked him far more pointed questions than Vice President Kamala Harris, who faced zero hostility from the anchors.
Last Thursday, Trump renewed his attacks on Muir and his network during a press conference.
"And during the debate, I mentioned that and David Muir, a real lightweight," Trump said. "I had one against three, but I think we did great. But David Muir of ABC, fake news, when I said that crime is way up in our country, he corrected me, he corrected me and so much and it was right what I said. He didn't correct [Vice President Kamala Harris] one time, and what she said was wrong, absolutely wrong. So many different— Charlottesville, she was wrong, all of the different things, almost everything she said, and she was never corrected.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"But he corrected me on crime. He said, ‘No, no, crime has not gone up.' I said crime has gone up massively. He said, 'I'd like to state for the record that crime has not gone up.'"
ABC DEBATE MODERATORS SPARK FURY FOR AGGRESSIVE FACT-CHECKING OF TRUMP, EASY TREATMENT OF HARRIS
Former President Trump took aim at "lightweight" Muir and alleged ABC News broke its agreement with his campaign about not having fact-checks during the debate. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump went on to allege that ABC News broke the "deal" they struck ahead of the debate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Now you don't know this, but we had a deal with ABC that there will be no corrections of any kind, and they violated the deal. Why? Because they're bad people, and they're fake news," Trump said. "So he did it many times to me during the debate. He violated the deal. That's the deal, because you can take anything and try and make up stories with it. We had a deal where that wouldn't happen. You could do whatever you wanted as soon as the debate was over, but he did it in total violation of what our agreement was. And a lot of people standing right over there [as he looked toward his staff] will tell you exactly what it was, will show you what it was. David Muir has lost all credibility."
The former president also took a swipe Davis, who provided the first fact-check of the debate against him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I never heard of her. I never want to hear of her. She was terrible. I don't know how she ever got her job in the first place," Trump said. "But we have a country to save, and we can't have fake news like that. And his ratings deserve to go down."
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this story.