Look who’s laughing
When former President Donald Trump made his “major announcement” last week that he was selling $99 nonfungible token (NFT) trading cards with his likeness, people mocked him, frowned in confusion, or cringed. But maybe Trump got the last laugh — or at least the obscure Utah strip-mall LLC that sold the NFT cards with Trump’s licensed image — since all 45,000 evidently sold out within 12 hours and are now trading online at significantly more than their sale price.
Saturday Night Live laughed at Trump anyway. “Trump cards are each $99 — seems like a lot, seems like a scam, and in many ways it is,” SNL’s in-house Trump, James Austin Johnson, said in Saturday’s cold open. “You can also get them for free by just going online and looking at them, maybe, I don’t know. Maybe taking a screenshot.” He insisted they are not like Pokemon.
Donald Trump Jr. (Mikey Day) came out to help hawk “this amazing, totally legit product,” though he conceded $99 is kind of steep: “You can get two grams for that!” And Cecily Strong, in her final show as an SNL cast member, stepped in as Don Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
SNL‘s “Weekend Update” joined in the fun. “Donald Trump has launched a collection of digital NFT trading cards depicting him in various costumes, including cowboy, superhero, and — most unbelievable of all — guy who didn’t dodge the draft,” anchor Colin Jost quipped. “It’s such a funny move getting into NFTs after the whole market just crashed. It’s like getting into Kanye now — which Trump also kind of did.”
Strong also used “Weekend Update” to obliquely say goodbye to the show.
Kenan Thompson put an even thinner veneer on marking her departure, thanking “RadioShack” employee Strong for her years of bringing joy to “RadioShack” and helping keep “RadioShack” alive. He brought out guest host Austin Butler (Elvis) to lead a group rendition of “Blue Christmas.”
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