Deion Sanders Loved Kenan Thompson’s Saturday Night Live Parody

Deion Sanders is one of the biggest names in college football with his Showtime Era-inspired coaching style at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been in the news so much, Saturday Night Live decided to lampoon the NFL player-turned-collegiate coach. In a moment on SNL’s Weekend Update, Kenan Thompson appeared as the coach, a caricature of the coach’s boisterous persona. As it turns out, Sanders was a fan of the bit.

“I’m a fan of Kenan, let’s get that straight. I love him. I love what’s he’s brought to comedy over, what, got to be over a couple decades it seems as though,” Sanders said during a press conference on Monday. “I had the pleasure and the honor to host Saturday Night Live before, and I will never forget those moments. But it was good,” Sanders said of Thompson’s performance.

Sanders’ lone hosting stint came in a Season 20 episode in 1995 while he was active in both the NFL and MLB.

Who is in the Saturday Night Live cast?

Cast members for Saturday Night Live season 49 include almost the entire cast from season 48 of SNL. Returning stars include Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang. Featured players that are part of the cast include returning stars Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker, plus the show’s only fully new cast member for the year, newcomer Chloe Troast. The comedy troupe Please Don’t Destroy, made up of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, are also a recurring part of the series. 

New Saturday Night Live Hosts

With the SAG-AFTRA Strike still without a resolution, Saturday Night Live is unable to tap actors to host new episodes since previously they would only appear on the series to promote some new work (prohibited by the rules of the SAG-AFTRA strike). As a result comedians and musicians have been the only hosts confirmed for Saturday Night Live season 49 with Pete Davidson, Bad Bunny, and Nate Bargatze taking the spotlight for the first three episodes.

Saturday Night Live Season 49 is ongoing now with new episodes airing on both NBC and Peacock, starting Saturdays at 11:30 PM ET. All 48  seasons of Saturday Night Live are also now streaming on Peacock.