John Mulaney is a fairly popular comedian these days, known for his work as an SNL writer, followed by multiple standup specials, and then returning to SNL as a guest host. Having hosted the show twice in 2020, with the first time being in February, Mulaney walked on stage and began the traditional opening monologue with all the kinds of jokes and delivery folks have come to expect from the veteran comedian. Unfortunately for him, one of those jokes that seemed innocent enough at the time found the comedian under investigation by the Secret Service, which came as a shock to the man himself.
During the monologue Mulaney made a reference to 2020 being a leap year. As part of the joke he mentioned that the leap year tradition was started by Julius Caesar and continued on with: “another thing that happened with Caesar is that he was stabbed to death by a bunch of senators because he went crazy.” While the joke did not mention any specific figure by name, and was not a reference to any particular topical event, several far-right political outlets interpreted the joke as mockery of, or even a threat towards, President Donald Trump.
The rumors and attacks leveled at Mulaney’s joke caught the eye of the Secret Service, who made a point to open a file into the matter out of an abundance of caution. Luckily they weren’t too worried about the whole affair, with Mulaney explaining that the agent who vetted him understood that the joke was not about Donald Trump, and that the comedian posed no threat to the President. Still he was asked about whether he had written any manifestos or rants about Trump online, to which he responded “I have bad writing habits. I could never pound out a manifesto.”
While the situation is amusing in retrospect, it was certainly a stressful situation at the time, with Mulaney admitting: “Am I stoked there’s a file open on me? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it in the moment? Not so much.” Thankfully it’s all been cleared up in the time since that, whatever the Secret Service investigated, there was nothing to suggest Mulaney was a danger to the President. “I was cleared by the Secret Service — I’ve been told” he remarked, hopefully closing the book on one of the stranger events to spin out of an SNL monologue.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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