Sen. Elizabeth Warren made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live two days after ending her presidential campaign.
She played herself in the show's cold open, which mocked Fox News' coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Warren was "interviewed" about her campaign by Kate McKinnon, dressed as Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Warren said she was "doing just fine" since dropping out of the race. "My friends and family have been so supportive. They've been calling nonstop, asking, 'Are you OK?' 'What do you need?' 'Were you electable?'"
In the sketch, Warren said that she was proud of her campaign because “We built a wide coalition of teachers, preschool teachers, middle school teachers, and teachers’ pets."
"And not only did I not accept money from billionaires, I got to give one a swirly on live TV," she joked in reference to her decisive Feb. 19 debate performance against fellow former candidate Michael Bloomberg.
"But now, I’ve got time to do a little self-care. Hanging out with my dog Bailey, prank-calling banks, drag-racing Subarus, avoiding Twitter."
Please welcome Sen. Elizabeth Warren to The Ingraham Angle. #SNL
As Warren was preparing for the end of the sketch, McKinnon — who had been off camera — raced back onstage in a matching outfit, clearly surprising her. McKinnon has been impersonating Warren on SNL and offered a tribute.
"I wanted to put on my favorite outfit to thank you for all that you've done in your lifetime," McKinnon said.
“I’m not dead, I’m just in the Senate,” Warren quipped in response, before the two introduced the show together.
McKinnon and Warren also recorded themselves doing the Drake "Flipped the Switch" TikTok challenge in a video that was posted to Twitter by the official Saturday Night Live account.
𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵.
Warren's appearance on the show, just like her candidacy, received a strikingly mixed response on social media.
Tons of people loved the sketch, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted that the senator's surprise cameo was "legendary."
Me watching Kate McKinnon and Elizabeth Warren say “Live from New York it’s Saturday night” after this hell of a week #SNL
America, I still can’t believe you said no to 8 years of watching Kate McKinnon play @ewarren on SNL. Guess I’ll just have to watch this clip with the real Elizabeth Warren on repeat forever!
Warren was also criticized for not using the opportunity to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for the presidency.
Elizabeth Warren going on SNL instead of doing the bare minimum to help fight for a progressive candidate against a man she has said is dangerous is all i needed to see to know her movement was never really about progress and is about her as a brand
Elizabeth Warren is really just fucking around on SNL for fun while the Democratic Party is trying to screw Bernie and install a man with dementia as the candidate to go against trump
🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Bernie Sanders supporters are doing a great job excoriating Elizabeth Warren for her SNL appearance and I, for one, would advise them to double down on this strategy over the next few weeks because it will absolutely attract more voters.
When asked whom she'd be endorsing on Saturday Night Live, Warren answered, "It’s tough. Maybe I’ll just pull a New York Times and endorse them both.”
