Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton Cut Off by James Austin Johnson’s Trump During ‘SNL’ Cold Open

Lin-Manuel Miranda reprised his iconic Alexander Hamilton role during a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The sketch comedy show’s latest cold open spoofed the founding fathers when they created the United States Declaration of Independence.

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After being introduced by Andrew Dismukes’ John Hancock, Miranda says, “Our lives matter not if we lose them in the cause of liberty. What matters is the nation we built. Because in America, all men are created equal. America, not England, we do win the sequel, and we will have leaders, but no one thing in America, we will never have a king.”

However, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump cut off Miranda, saying, “Never say never. I’m in my king era.” (Trump kicked off his second term earlier this week with his inauguration on Monday.)

As the founding fathers stand frozen in the background, Johnson’s Trump continues, “Just like the founding fathers, I am creating a new country as well. And just like them, we’re doing it very lightly. DEI is over. It’s dead. Workplaces must go back to looking like the TV show The Office: mostly white people, but with one funny Black guy who’s having a really bad time. We need to bring back Stanley culture, right? In terms of crossword and with regard to pretzel day.”

Trump went on to tease Miranda, saying, “Look at Lin. He got tricked into coming here and now he’s frozen on stage.”

He then highlights what he called his “great first week” in office after his “inauguration was a tremendous success.” Johnson’s Trump touched on some of the first executive orders the president signed, including one that calls for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and others that pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and World Health Organization.

Trump says he also has “to ensure that all of my cabinet positions are filled. We’re filling my cabinet with some of the best people. They’re all very good, except for most of them. Oh man, what is SNL gonna do? Who’s gonna play [Pete] Hegseth? I mean, look at these guys back here. None of them have the build, nobody has the jaw. Plenty of [Mark] Zuckerberg options, though.”

Before wrapping up, Johnson’s Trump turned his attention to frozen Miranda once again, who was struggling not to laugh: “Oh, look at Lin. Look at how bad he wants to do a rap and he doesn’t get to do it. Oh, the audience would have eaten that right up. We’re not gonna hear it. He’s in sniffing distance of an EGOT and he’s got to stand there till I’m done. Lin-Manuel Miranda Cosgrove, there he is.”

Miranda played Alexander Hamilton in the Broadway musical Hamilton, which he also created, writing the music and lyrics. He left the role in July 2016.

Timothée Chalamet, who portrayed Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, returned to SNL this week to host and serve as musical guest.

During his opening monologue, the actor highlights that James Mangold’s film earned eight Oscar nominations earlier this week. “I’m truly overjoyed,” Chalamet says. “I was literally crying in my dressing room here when I found out. The entire creative team worked extremely hard bringing to life the brilliant artist Bob Dylan, a man whose music and career has become a guiding light to me, and it’s an enormous honor going to these award shows.”

“It’s such a great experience, but I just keep losing,” Chalamet quips. “And each time it gets harder to pretend it doesn’t sting.” He then tosses to a video montage of all the times he’s lost an award.

“The most embarrassing part is I’ve had this sad little speech in my pocket for four years that I’ve never gotten a chance to read, so I was thinking maybe tonight I could read it for everyone here,” the actor continues. “Why don’t we have everyone here just pretend we’re at an award show and I’ll give you this envelope and just say, ‘The award goes to,’ and then you read it.”

But to Chalamet’s disappointment… again, Kenan Thompson’s name was called.

Later in the show, Chalamet also performed several of Dylan’s songs, including “Outlaw Blues,” “Three Angels” and “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.”

In addition to Miranda, Adam Sandler also made a surprise appearance during the latest SNL episode.

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