Colin Jost’s Jaw Hits the Floor Over Michael Che’s Israel Genocide Joke on ‘SNL’

Skip to content The “Weekend Update” co-hosts weigh in on the nation’s election results November 1, 2026 @ 10:31 AM Colin Jost reacts to Michael Che's Israeli genocide joke on the Oct. 31, 2026, episode of "Saturday Night Live." (Credit: NBC/X) Colin Jost was rendered speechless on this week’s “Saturday Night Live” and his jaw hit the floor over Michael Che’s joke about Israel. Saturday’s “Weekend Update” segment was fittingly spooky for Halloween and featured a guest appearance from Ben Marshall playing a reformed Pennywise the Clown, but the biggest laughs — and gasps — came at the top of the sketch as co-hosts Jost and Che volleyed political takes on everything from Vice President JD Vance to Michigan Democratic hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. After joking about Sen. Ted Cruz’s five-fire alarm against El-Sayed, in which the politician argued that “Americans will die” if the liberal nominee is elected to Senate, Che pivoted to Israel’s Oct. 27 elections. “This week, a record number of people voted in Israel’s election — which is great to see, regardless of if you’re on the right side, or the left side, or the genocide,” Che said before the camera cut to an agape Jost. The co-host looked around in faux shock and a smile before hurdling into riffing on the stateside election scandal involving Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska. The jab at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection bid and his ongoing military action in Gaza against Hamas was brief but effective, marking one of the few times “Saturday Night Live” has waded into the waters of the controversy. One of the most prominent topics at hand going into the Oct. 27 elections was whether voters will continue supporting Netanyahu’s war in Gaza, which has been categorized as a genocide by a number of international bodies, human rights organizations, legal experts and state governments.