Matt Damon Mocks Judge Kavanaugh, Kanye West Rants in SNL Season Debut

The latest season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live kicked off with a bang from guest host Matt Damon, and ended with boos for the bizarre behavior of its musical performer, Kanye West.

In the show’s cold open, Damon portrayed Judge Brett Kavanaugh at his most recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, mocking the Supreme Court nominee’s at times angry, at times weepy appearance earlier this week in response to sexual assault claims made against him by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Telling the assembled Senators he was an optimistic, “keg is half full kind of guy,” Damon also took aim at the allegedly hard partying that Kavanaugh has been accused of during his high school and college years, violently shotgunning a can of water to close out the sketch.

The SNL cast didn’t just train its fire on Kavanaugh, though, it dedicated time to mocking several of the politicians who participated in Thursday’s hearing. Of particular note was cast member Kate McKinnon’s skewering of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

The SNL season debut ended even more bizarrely, however. With just moments remaining in the broadcast, a MAGA-hatted Kanye West, the show’s musical guest, came out for a unorthodox third performance that ran long and was cut off as the broadcast ended. Off-air, West remained on stage and began a rambling, pro-Trump rant, where he said: “The blacks want always Democrats… you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare… does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan.” The surreal moment drew boos from the audience and was partially captured on video by comedian Chris Rock, who can be heard chuckling in the background of an Instagram story he posted.