NBC’s Saturday Night Live ended up with egg on its face when “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost attempted to make fun of former President Donald Trump for using the word “de-bank” — a well-known financial term used to describe the denial of financial services to political dissidents, frequently at the behest of the government.
During Saturday’s broadcast, Colin Jost admitted to not knowing “what the hell” the term meant, while erroneously claiming Trump made the word up.
“Trump introduced an interesting new term: de-banking,” Jost said, showing clips of Trump promising to protect U.S. citizens from being de-banked for political reasons.
“I don’t know what the hell ‘de-bank’ means but he might have to take ‘de-ambulance’ to see ‘de-doctor.'”
NBC’s live audience guffawed in unison, clearly unaware of the term’s meaning.
Watch below:
SNL did a segment mocking Trump for using the word de-bank:
"Trump introduced an interesting new term: de-banking. I don't know what the hell de-bank even means." pic.twitter.com/JXGAcmNsni
— Miky Maiorano (@MikyMaiorano) January 28, 2024
Apparently, not a single SNL staff writer or producer was familiar with the term “de-bank” before Saturday’s broadcast.
Breitbart News has covered debanking since at least 2017, as online payment services including PayPal and Venmo banned prominent American conservatives and financial firms blacklisted the firearms industry.
Awareness of the practice skyrocketed after Canada’s Justin Trudeau forcefully froze the bank accounts of the Freedom Convoy truckers protesting his government’s vaccine mandates. In addition, U.K. political activist Nigel Farage was denied banking services in 2023 — a massive scandal that led to the ouster of NatWest CEO Alsion Rose.
The financial blacklisting of Trump supporters — as well as others who defy the establishment — is becoming a popular tool for the left to damage their political opponents.
Trump warned about the dangers of de-banking during a campaign speech in New Hampshire earlier this month.
“We’re going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to de-bank you,” Trump told the crowd. “They want to de-bank you. ‘We’re going to de-bank…’ Think of this — they want to take away your country.”
As Breitbart News reported, Trump predicted the eventual demise of SNL, saying in 2022 that the long-running NBC institution has become a “bad show that’s not funny or smart.”
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.