Don Cheadle, star of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, hosted this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live. He concluded the episode with a subtle dig at President Donald Trump.
During the episode’s outro – which, as usual, saw the host thank everyone involved as the full cast gathered on stage – Cheadle wore a Soviet Union hockey jersey.
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Take a look below:
Thank you, @DonCheadle, @GaryClarkJr, and @ABFalecbaldwin! Goodnight! 🌙 #SNL pic.twitter.com/co8TBBQrdU
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 17, 2019
That may have been nothing more than a strange fashion choice for Cheadle. But then he turned around, and fans could see Trump’s name on the back of the jersey with the number “45” for the 45th president.
Take a look:
Haha Legendary! @DonCheadle wore a Soviet Union CCCP hockey jersey at the end of the #SNL tonight with #Trump on the back of it with number 45 for his presidency! Well done Donny! #DonCheadle #agentorange pic.twitter.com/OVhkSQwdXY
— Alex Peers (@dj_themes) February 17, 2019
The jersey seems meant to remind Trump and Trump supporters of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2018 presidential election.
Critics who are suspicious of Trump believe the investigation will reveal collusion between Trump and/or the Trump campaign and Russian agents attempting to swing or sabotage the election through misinformation campaigns, hacking, and leaks.
Trump, members of his administration, and his supporters have denied allegations of collusion, frequently decrying Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Cheadle plays James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the armored hero War Machine. Rhodey was one of the Avengers who survived the end of Avengers: Infinity War, though his role in the film was reduced from what was first planned. Those original plans would have seen Rhodey in two different versions of the War Machine armor.
“Originally, Rhodey was going to have two different armors in this movie. And then this ultimately got narrowed down to one armor, so the best elements in both armors were combined into one,” said concept illustrator Phil Saunders in The Art of Avengers: Infinity War. “We really wanted to give him a much more advanced look than what he had had in the previous movie to keep up a little bit with the leap from the Mark 47 to Mark 50 for Iron Man.
“So I went with a much more sophisticated stealth geometry and breakup of the form language. I also gave him a far more extensive package of weaponry than he had ever previously had.”
Cheadle has stated that Rhodey is happy to have the Avengers – at least what’s left of them – fighting on the same side again.
“I think at the end of the day that division was not something that was really fomented by the characters in the movie,” Cheadle said in March 2018. “There were outside pressures that created that division. And they ultimately want to be back together. So, I think that Tony who has yet to make an appearance so I imagine that he’s understanding of it.”
What did you think of Cheadle’s episode of Saturday Night Live? Let us know in the comments!
Avengers: Endgame opens April 26th.
Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.
