Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley joins the "Saturday Night Live" cast in ribbing Donald Trump this weekend, appearing in a cameo for the show's cold open.
Popping up from the audience during the "CNN Town Hall South Carolina" sketch, the real Haley asks SNL's Trump (James Austin Johnson) why he won't debate her.
"Oh my God, it's her," Johnson as Trump exclaims. And the reaction to this sketch on social media was along those same lines.
"Not a Nikki Haley jump scare on SNL," writes @yosoymichael on X (formerly Twitter).
"Saturday Night Live sure does have a long track record of comedy-washing hateful conservatives," writes @cmclymer
"Nikki is pandering to identity politics and clearly has been embraced by the Democrats since they let her on SNL, which is very Left wing. Cringe," writes @LauraLoomer
Towards the end of the sketch, the show does manage to get a dig in at Haley herself when a person from the audience — played by host Ayo Edebiri — asks, “I was just curious, what would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an S and ends with a lavery?”
“I probably should have said that the first time,” Haley says.
Watch here:
