Recently discovered documents confirmed that John Mulaney was investigated by the Secret Service for an “inappropriate” “Saturday Night Live” joke about President Donald Trump.
An archive was opened about the 38-year-old comedian – who recently went into rehab for alcohol and cocaine addiction – after his opening monologue on February 29, 2020, the episode of “SNL” started “gaining considerable attention” “, according to records obtained by the Associated Press.
In it, Mulaney talked about Roman general Julius Caesar, calling him “a maniac so powerful that all the senators grabbed knives and stabbed him to death”.
“It would be an interesting thing if we brought it back now,” said Mulaney to audience laughter, as detailed in the investigation files.
The gag was investigated as “inappropriate statements about President Trump”, with the file noting that “although no direct threats have been made, due to popularity, concerned citizens are likely to report this.”
Two days after Mulaney’s “SNL” monologue, law enforcement officers contacted Thomas McCarthy, NBC’s head of global security and senior vice president, “to express the agency’s desire to discuss the mentioned incident with Mulaney’s lawyer,” note the files.
However, Secret Service agents “did not interview Mulaney,” the files say.
The investigation into Mulaney was opened in March and closed in December, with agents deciding not to take any action.
Mulaney himself revealed the investigation during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel in December, during which he claimed he had been interviewed.
“The person who examined me understood very well that the joke had nothing to do with Donald Trump because it was an elliptical reference to him,” Mulaney told Kimmel.
“They said that if it was a joke, then I was cleared by the Secret Service.”
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