In one of the most moving Saturday Night Live episodes to date, this week's show opened with Kate McKinnon dressed as Hillary Clinton singing "Hallelujah" while playing piano. The performance had two meanings. It was a tribute to singer Leonard Cohen, who died this week and was perhaps best known for writing and singing "Hallelujah." And after Clinton's stunning election loss on Tuesday, hearing her character sing words like, "I did my best, it wasn't much, I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch, I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong, I'll stand before the Lord of song with nothing on my tongue but hallelujah," was especially poignant.
McKinnon ended the segment by looking into the camera and saying, "I'm not giving up — and neither should you."
The video was posted to SNL's Facebook page and has since received thousands of comments like, "Your opening song with Kate was everything ❤ a tribute to the mood of a broken hearted nation, the loss of Leonard Cohen, and showing HRC as the graceful woman with immense compassion for our country via this opening song."
Alec Baldwin, who expertly played Donald Trump leading up to the election, told Us Weekly he wouldn't take on the role this week. "I'm not an impressionist, per se, but if you do any kind of comedy and they ask you to do that, most of the time, there's some degree of appreciation, I think, involving somebody you like," he said. "Trump is somebody who, I don't hate Trump, but he's not somebody I admire, so it was more difficult."