'SNL' Cold Open Features R. Kelly, Gayle King Interview, Hidden Cameras, And The Jail King — Watch Video

Source: Will Heath/NBC

The R. Kelly, Gayle King interview received the SNL treatment over the weekend and the video has gone viral. Leslie Jones portrayed the journalist and CBS This Morning co-host who interviewed Robert Sylvester Kelly “R. Kelly” portrayed by Kenan Thompson. Thompson had his work cut out for him as R. Kelly’s interview with King drew millions of views as people watched in awe as R. Kelly became emotional, stood up, spoke over Gayle, shouted out answers, declared his innocence, then became hysterical as he shouted he was fighting for his life.

R. Kelly faces 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse and if convicted could spend up to 70 years in prison.

The opening quickly began spoofing R. Kelly’s responses to Gayle King’s interview.

“My lawyer was telling me, no, but my ego — my ego was telling me yes,” Kenan Thompson stated while in character as  R. Kelly.

Kenan Thompson portrayed the part well and even stood up, mirroring the real-life R. Kelly as he began pacing during the interview.

You may watch the full SNL skit portraying R. Kelly in the video player below.

Have you followed the R. Kelly case? What did you think of Saturday Night Live’s skit? Some of the standouts included showing R. Kelly as portraying himself as a victim, how he began singing during his interview with Gayle King, and that he has trouble with literacy.

During the Surviving R. Kelly docu-series, his ex-wife, Andrea “Drea” Kelly revealed that part of their courtship was the bond they formed when she taught him how to read.

Though R. Kelly has been jailed twice since the documentary, supporters in his community have bailed him out. The SNL skit also paid close attention to the details in the original interview but one aspect that had people shocked was when Kenan looked for the hidden cameras then announced, “You all keep your cameras out like that?”

The skit concluded with Kenan saying he thought Gayle King was the “jail king” indicating the reason why he did the interview was to score points with the jail king and hopefully get out of trouble.

Do you think Leslie Jones and Kenan Thompson did a good job recreating the R. Kelly/Gayle King interview?