SNL Weekend Update: When Colin Jost ‘appeared’ in Epstein’s video with Donald Trump | World News
Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost found himself in a very awkward situation on this week’s “Weekend Update” when co-host Michael Che revealed an unexpected surprise: a video showing Jost at a party with President Donald Trump and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The clip, originally filmed in 1992 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, is well known for capturing Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting at a lively party — years before Epstein’s criminal affairs came to light. But this time there was a twist. Thanks to the wonders of artificial intelligence, Jost’s image was digitally inserted into the scene, dancing around the two men as if he had always been there.
Sora meets satire
Che explained that the video was created using OpenAI‘s video generation tool, Sora, and joked that Jost had “partyed” with Trump and Epstein. As the doctored footage rolled by, Jost grimaced, shook his head and glanced at the audience before deadpanning, “Really excited that it’s out there.” Che, smelling blood in the water, continued to pile on the jokes, much to the crowd’s delight – and Jost’s discomfort.
The original 1992 images have long circulated online, often resurfacing during discussions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. Although Trump has repeatedly denied being close to the disgraced financier, photographs, flight logs and social interactions tell a more complicated story. A recently surfaced letter – purportedly from Trump to Epstein and featuring a crude sketch of a naked woman – has only fueled controversy, although Trump insists it is a fake and launched a defamation lawsuit following its publication.
The new frontier of comedy
The SNL stunt captured a cultural inflection point: the merging of cutting-edge AI technology with late-night comedy. What was once the domain of deepfakes and online disinformation has now become a tool of satire – one that can both entertain and destabilize.For Jost, the gag was an uncomfortable collision of history, technology and humor. For SNL, it was a glimpse into the future of comedy: a world where the past is not just referenced but rewritten, pixel by pixel, in real time. And for viewers, it was a reminder that the line between fact and fabrication is no longer a line at all, it’s a punchline.
