Saturday Night Live’s cold open mocked the slew of celebrities and high profile public figures who have been arrested, indicted, or sentenced to prison in recent weeks, including Lori Loughlin, Julian Assange, Michael Avenatti, and Tekashi 6ix9ine.
The sketch is a send-up of MSNBC’s documentary series Lockup, which details life inside prisons and jails across America.
‘Now that the Mueller report turned out to be a big fat zero, we’re back to prison shows,’ the narrator in the SNL sketch says.
Lockup was cancelled in 2017 after 16 years on the air.
The SNL sketch is a fake Lockup episode taking viewers inside the Chino Correctional Facility in California.
Saturday Night Live mocked Lori Loughlin (seen above played by Kate McKinnon) as a prison inmate. Three other inmates seen left to right: Chris Redd, Kenan Thompson; and Kyle Mooney
In the SNL sketch, Loughlin the inmate joins the Nation of Islam. 'I bought my way in for 100 grand,' she says. 'Plus another 100 for them to stop calling me the white devil'
Loughlin and the other three inmates are then joined by Michael Avenatti, played by Pete Davidson
The sketch begins with three inmates who are sitting in a prison cell.
One of the inmates says he is in prison for armed robbery, another is incarcerated after he was convicted of assault, and a third who ‘stabbed my neighbor to death and ate his fingers so that they couldn’t ID the body.’
‘Damn, that’s insane,’ one of the inmates remarks.
At this point, Kate McKinnon, who plays Lori Loughlin, enters the scene.
‘Oh, yeah? You think that's insane? I paid 500 grand to get my daughter into USC,’ McKinnon’s Loughlin says.
Michael Avenatti, played above by Pete Davidson, walks into the cell. In real life, Avenatti was indicted this week by federal authorities on fraud charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life
In real life, Loughlin, the Full House star known for her role as Aunt Becky, is one of 50 people arrested by federal authorities for their involvement in the college bribery scam.
Another acting star, Felicity Huffman, was also arrested, though she and 13 others struck a plea deal with prosecutors.
Loughlin, however, has yet to do so. She could face up to 40 years in prison.
‘I paid 500 grand to a women's crew coach to say my daughter was good at rowing. I'm loco,’ McKinnon’s Loughlin said on SNL.
One of the inmates played by Kenan Thompson asks Loughlin: ‘Hold up. You paid 500 grand for USC?’
‘Oh, yeah. And that's not including the 300 grand I blew on tuition,’ Loughlin says.
‘Oh, my god. What did your daughter major in?’ the inmate asks Loughlin.
‘Communications,’ she says.
‘And you know what her job is now? She's an influencer on Instagram.’
The inmate says: ‘Stop it. I can't hear anymore. Guards, get her away from me!’
To which Loughlin replies: ‘Hey, I own the guards in here. I helped their kids get into a really competitive pre-K.’
When the inmates are ready to crown Avenatti as the 'craziest,' Assange, played by Michael Keaton, walks in
Keaton's Assange sports an all-black suit, a pony tail, and a long white beard
In the SNL sketch, one of the inmates commented that Assange looks like 'Santa's back on crack'
Keaton's Assange brags about being the 'architect of anarchy' and the 'king of chaos'
Loughlin then reveals that she joined the Nation of Islam.
'That's right,' she says. 'I bought my way in for 100 grand.
'Plus another 100 for them to stop calling me the white devil.'
When an inmate remarks that Loughlin won't survive a week in prison, she replies: 'Oh really? You think prison is hard?
'I have done 68
