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** OPINION
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** Live from New York, it’s a shakeup to ‘Saturday Night Live’
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Lorne Michaels attends the "SNL50: The Homecoming Concert" at Radio City Music Hall in New York in February. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Could big changes be coming to “Saturday Night Live?”

Puck’s Matthew Belloni spoke with “Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels ([link removed]) , who confirmed that he would “shake things up” for the upcoming season. “SNL” returns for its 51st season on Oct. 4. Michaels didn’t offer details, but Belloni wrote that “several current cast members are expected to exit.”

Michaels told Belloni, “It’ll be announced in a week or so.”

The only one certain to return is James Austin Johnson, who does the best Donald Trump imitation on the planet. Michaels confirmed Johnson is coming back. In fact, you would think Johnson’s spot, if he wants it, is certain for the next three years.

But after that? It’s anyone’s guess.

Screen Rant’s Matthew Thomas wrote ([link removed]) , “It seems extremely likely that some season 50 stars would only exit if they chose to quit. Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, and Michael Che seem like obvious examples of that. However, considering SNL has a history of firing surprising people, like Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, anything is possible.”

Someone else who is returning? Michaels, who is 80. The Canadian-born producer created “SNL” in 1975 and has run the show for most of its run. (He did not produce the show in the early 1980s.) There has been speculation that he could retire after seeing “SNL” through its 50th season, but he shows no signs of slowing down. He told The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd ([link removed]) last February, “I may be wrong. But I don’t feel I’m done.”

A fun game has been to predict who might be in line to someday replace Michaels as “SNL” showrunner, with the names Tina Fey, Seth Meyers and Jost coming up most often. However, it would appear Michaels plans to stay put for the foreseeable future.

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** More from Michaels
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Michaels also shared another interesting nugget in his interview with Belloni. He said he would have liked to have invited the late singer, Sinéad O’Connor, onto the “SNL50” anniversary special to sing “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

Back in 1992, in one of the most famous moments in “SNL” history, O’Connor ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II. It was her protest against child abuse in the Catholic Church. The public backlash against the Irish singer was harsh and her career was severely damaged. “SNL” and Michaels might have played a role in that. O’Connor was never invited back to the show.

In a 1993 interview with Spin, Michaels said, “I thought (it) was sort of the wrong place for it, I thought her behavior was inappropriate. Because it was difficult to do two comedy sketches after it, and also it was dishonest because she didn’t tell us she was going to do it. … We were sort of shocked, the way you would be shocked at a houseguest pissing on a flower arrangement in the dining room.”

However, Michaels eventually changed his opinion. In the documentary “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” Michaels said, “There was a part of me that just admired the bravery of what she’d done, and also the absolute sincerity of it.”

In the years since O’Connor’s “SNL” controversy, we have also learned more about child abuse inside the Catholic Church, and O’Connor’s actions are viewed differently.

O’Connor died in 2023 at age 56. For the “SNL50” special, Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard performed “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the song written by Prince that was O’Connor’s biggest hit.

Michaels told Belloni, “If (O’Connor) were still alive, I would have asked her to sing that song. But it was represented by Miley singing it with so much power.”


** A witness to ICE
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Powerful work from CNN senior reporter Chelsea Bailey with “I stopped for gas and witnessed an ICE arrest. Then, I spent days looking for the man who was detained.” ([link removed])

Bailey reports she was getting gas on her way to work in Washington, D.C., last Thursday when she saw a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehension. Bailey passed along some disturbing details. While she acknowledged she didn’t see what happened before a man running was captured, she wrote “… the masked men were driving a Kia — a family car I don’t typically associate with law enforcement. And the SUV had generic Maryland flag license tags. Though they appeared to be law enforcement, I didn’t hear them identify themselves. Their tactical gear said ‘police,’ but they didn’t seem to be linked to a particular department or agency, and I couldn’t see any badges.”

Bailey added, “What I saw of the arrest lasted less than five minutes, but it felt terrifying and surreal. I never heard the agents tell Samuel why he was being detained. As the masked men put him in the back of the blacked-out SUV, I felt like I was watching someone being kidnapped.”

Bailey passes along more details about what happened and what she learned about the man who was apprehended. It’s a story worth your time.


** Question of the day
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“Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker interviewed Vice President JD Vance on Sunday’s NBC program, but her best question of the day was to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Welker asked Lavrov ([link removed]) , “Mr. foreign minister, here are the facts: Close to 50,000 civilians have either been killed or injured in this war. Russia has hit maternity wards, churches, schools, hospitals, a kindergarten just this past week. So either the Russian military has terrible aim or you are targeting civilians. Which is it?”

What a question.

Lavrov responded by saying, “Look, look, NBC is a very respectful structure, and I hope you are responsible for the words which you broadcast. I ask you to send us or to publicize the information to which you just referred because we never targeted the civilian targets of the kind you cited. You might be mixing, you know, the information because it is a fact that quite a number of churches were purposefully hit by the Ukrainian regime. Quite a number of just civilian settlements, human settlements.”

After another back-and-forth, Welker defended NBC to Lavrov, saying, “Mr. foreign minister, it’s all publicly documented, and we have reporters on the ground who’ve seen it with their own eyes. All of the information is publicly available. We do have reporters on the ground who’ve seen these strikes with their own eyes.”

Welker was strong throughout the interview, pushing and pushing back on Lavrov in a rare interview with the Russian foreign minister.


** Odd choice
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Media journalist Oliver Darcy made a keen observation in his Status newsletter ([link removed]) : “For some reason, FCC chair Brendan Carr threw the first pitch at the Yankees game.”

It’s true. Carr threw out the ceremonial first pitch ([link removed]) at Saturday’s New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox game in New York. And then he was interviewed on the Yankees broadcast on the YES Network.

By the way, Darcy will be my guest on the next episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast,” which will come out Wednesday. We don’t talk about Carr throwing out a first pitch, but we do get into Darcy leaving CNN a year ago to launch his own media venture. We also discuss the latest media topics, including what’s going on at CNN, The Washington Post and what Darcy thinks is the most undercovered media story right now.


** Media tidbits
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* Deadline’s Ted Johnson with “Trump FTC’s Investigation Of Media Matters Will Remain On Hold As Judge Rejects Latest Motion.” ([link removed])
* For Columbia Journalism Review, Julie Gerstein and Margaret Sullivan with “Thirteen Journalists on How They Are Rethinking Ethics.” ([link removed]) It includes a passage from Kelly McBride, Poynter’s senior vice president and chair of the Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute.
* This week marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Here’s Axios’ Chelsea Brasted with “What to read, watch to better understand Hurricane Katrina.” ([link removed])
* Speaking of which, this week, Netflix will premiere a three-part docuseries produced by Spike Lee called “Katrina: Come Hell and High Water.”
* The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis with “Jimmy Pitaro Stayed True to His Vision for ESPN. Here’s What It Looks Like.” ([link removed])
* Here’s a fun list. The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch with “The most impactful sports TV play-by-play voices of the 21st century.” ([link removed])
* The Guardian’s Cy Neff with “Seven Wyoming newspapers were about to be shut. They were given a second life.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* The New York Times’ Dan Barry and Alan Feuer with a troubling story in “Reframing Jan. 6: After the Pardons, the Purge.” ([link removed]) This subhead reveals what is so troubling: “In its campaign of ‘uprooting the foot soldiers,’ the Trump Justice Department has fired or demoted more than two dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors, even as those they sent to prison walk free.”
* Los Angeles Times columnist Glenn Whipp, who covers film and television, with “The 10 fall festival movies our Oscars expert will be watching most closely.” ([link removed])


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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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