Don Cheadle Gets Political With His Shirts On SNL

Photo: Courtesy of NBC.

Don Cheadle hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time ever Saturday night, and the best part of his debut wasn’t his Spike Lee impression during Celebrity Family Feud. Instead, it was his statement shirts that had everyone talking.

Before the night's musical guest, blues-rock musician Gary Clark Jr., took the stage, the Black Monday star stood in the audience to introduce him wearing a simple black shirt with white letters that read “Protect Trans Kids.” Later, towards the end of the show, Cheadle wore a Soviet Union hockey jersey. Pretty meh. That is, until the actor turned around and revealed to viewers that the name “Trump” was affixed across the top with the number 45 below. At that point, no mental gymnastics were needed to decipher who Cheadle was throwing shade at.

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Last night on #SNL Don Cheadle wore a #ProtectTransKids shirt and a Russian Trump jersey.

He continues to show that he is truly the real deal, and simply a great person. Great way to use your platform, @DonCheadle. pic.twitter.com/cU0vn3uDf3
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) February 17, 2019

Both shirts were so subtle, yet so powerful.

A quick sweep of Cheadle’s Twitter account and you’ll see that he’s very outspoken and constantly plugged in to what’s happening around the world. But, if I’m being totally honest, so are a lot of celebrities. What separates Cheadle from most, though, is that he brought the conversation to a large platform like SNL and seamlessly weaved the messaging in between jokes and sketches. That takes skill.

Cheadle thanked the show on Twitter Sunday afternoon for "the opportunity to play and pay respect and throw shade in an historic space in an historic time."

♥️✌?✊? to each and every one of you beautiful tweeps. i awoke to so much support and love!! thank you @nbcsnl for the opportunity to play and pay respect and throw shade in an historic space in an historic time. keep fighting, y'all. evil grows in the dark. ?
— Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) February 17, 2019

Twitter responded well to Cheadle’s fashion choices for the episode, particularly when it came to the “Protect Trans Kids” shirt. Actress Laverne Cox was one of many who gave praise.