Former Saturday Night Live writer John Mulaney returned to the show to host tonight, and made a joke that compared President Donald Trump to Julius Caesar, “a powerful maniac” who was assassinated by a group of Roman senators, and suggested that it would be an “interesting thing” to consider today.
Mulaney, 37, shared the disturbing remark, passed off as a “joke”, during his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live’s latest episode.
The SNL alum began by noting that the show fell on a Leap Year, which was created by Julius Caesar, and that the Roman military man ultimately met his demise when stabbed during a Senate session on March 15, 44 BC.
‘[Caesar] started the Leap Year in order to correct the calendar and we still do it to this day,‘ Mulaney said.
‘Another thing that happened under Julius Caesar, he was such a powerful maniac that all the senators grabbed knives and they stabbed him to death.
‘That would be an interesting thing if we brought that back now,’ Mulaney finished to a laughing audience.
While the SNL audience and some fans praised Mulaney’s monologue, his comments ruffled a few feathers on social media.
Trump supporters on Twitter lambasted Mulaney for what they deemed an offensive and inappropriate jab.
‘So apparently it’s funny to joke about assassinating the President of the United States,’ one man questioned.
‘If @NBCSNL thinks it is ok [assassinate] people they disagree with, shouldn’t it work both ways for sh**** TV shows?’ another said.
One woman called the monologue ‘disgraceful‘, saying: ‘You want to stab Trump? Think you just stabbed your pathetic career. Never heard of you.’
One Twitter user suggested that such comments would never have tolerated under former President Barack Obama’s administration.
They wrote: ‘What is wrong with these people like [Mulaney]? Imagine if that had been said about Obama? These people are full of hate. They hate Americans that voted for Trump’
‘Sadly, I am not at all surprised by this,’ a woman wrote. ‘These people are sick!’
Finally, a fan said he no longer wants to support Mulaney after the comment and suggested the Secret Service would be involved.
‘Lost a fan in me with the hateful snowflake bit against our President. Hopefully the Secret Service will try to explain a little better how stupid that is,‘ they wrote.
Trump has yet to speak out against the monologue, but it is not the first time he’s been compared to the ‘Dictator for Life.’
In 2017, New York City’s Public Theater came under fire for showing a portrayal of William Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ in Central Park modeled after the Trump administration.
In one of the more memorable scenes, the Trump lookalike – is stabbed to death on the Senate floor by senators who fear he is becoming a tyrant.
Gregg Henry plays the role of Caesar while sporting a business suit, over-long tie and a reddish comb-over. Tina Benko was cast as his wife, Calpurnia, and she bears a resemblance to Melania Trump and speaks with a similar accent.
