Saturday Night Live opens with Colin Jost playing Pete Hegseth as he addresses sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. In the sketch, Hegseth greets the crew after they return from nearly a year at sea, framed around their mission, often referred to as “Operation Epic Fury.” Other characters in the cold open include James Austin Johnson as RFK Jr., who participates in the scene’s political and culture-war punchlines.
Multiple outlets note that the comedy also touches on the treatment and reception of the crew and contrasts it with Hegseth’s confident messaging. Deadline specifically describes the opener as parodying Hegseth “pumping up” plans related to streaming a live execution, while Variety characterizes the sketch as mocking execution-related efforts connected to a character named Christa Pike. Across coverage, the emphasis remains on the cold open’s political impersonations and the sketch’s satirical framing of real-world controversies, including criticism of how the returning service members are portrayed.
