Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a surprise guest appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” just days after suspending her 2020 presidential campaign.
The progressive senator appeared in a sketch that satirized Fox News’s coverage of the coronavirus and included parodies of network hosts Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro as well as retired MSNBC host Chris Matthews and President Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The skit opened with Ingraham, played by Kate McKinnon, dismissing the novel coronavirus as “an urban legend” and “liberal fan fiction.” Pirro, played by Cecily Strong, later argued that “Americans are not at risk” for the virus.
“Especially not our viewers, who skew elderly, are in bad health, live cloistered together in home specifically for sick people and have smoked their entire lives,” she said.
Some minutes later, Matthews, played by Darrell Hammond, made an appearance and quipped that Fox News is “amazing,” noting that “everyone here is hot, crazy or both!” Matthews last week retired from MSNBC after a series of controversies on and off the air.
McKinnon’s Ingraham then introduced Warren as the woman who “savagely murdered Michael Bloomberg on live television.”
When asked how she’s felt since dropping out of the race, Warren said she’s “doing just fine.”
“My friends and family have been so supportive. They’ve been calling nonstop, asking, ‘Are you OK? What do you need? Were you electable?’ That kind of thing,” she said.
McKinnon’s Ingraham then transitioned to what she said would be footage of Warren confronting Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who self-funded his presidential campaign and also dropped out of the 2020 race, during one of the Democratic debates. The footage was instead a viral clip of Warren’s dog, Bailey, attempting to eat a burrito.
“Just to be clear, were you the dog or the burrito?” McKinnon’s Ingraham asked.
“I was the dog,” Warren replied before the conversation moved to a discussion about who she will endorse for the Democratic presidential nomination. The race has quickly narrowed to one between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“It’s tough. Maybe I’ll just pull a New York Times and endorse them both,” Warren quipped, referencing the newspaper’s decision to offer a dual endorsement.
She later said that she had no regrets about her campaign, pointing to the “wide coalition of teachers, preschool teachers, middle school teachers, and teachers’ pets” who supported her.
“Not only did I not accept money from billionaires; I got to give one a swirly on live TV,” she said.
As the interview appeared to be wrapping up, McKinnon, who has impersonated Warren throughout the campaign, appeared alongside the senator.
“I wanted to put on my favorite outfit to thank you for all you’ve done in your lifetime,” McKinnon said.
Warren dropped out of the presidential race after struggling to earn significant support in the early voting states and on Super Tuesday. The staunch progressive’s campaign was centered around fighting inequality in the U.S. and creating a bevy of plans to reorient American governance.