Benedict Cumberbatch takes on Roe v Wade and Depp v Heard in SNL sketch

Benedict Cumberbatch kicked off his second stint as host of Saturday Night Live by starring in a sketch taking aim at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade. Johnny Depp’s ongoing defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard was also referenced.

The sketch, set in 13th century England, also starred SNL cast members Andrew Dismukes, Alex Moffat, Kate McKinnon, Chris Redd and Cecily Strong.

“While I was cleaning the hole on the side of the castle where we poop and then it falls through the sky into a hole of human feces, I started to think about abortion,” Cumberbatch said. “Don’t you think we ought to make a law against that?”

Clearly referencing Alito’s decision to base his opinion on historical texts, Cumberbatch’s character praised his own “moral clarity” and predicted that future legal scholars would declare “there’s no need to update this at all. We nailed it in 1235.”

Cumberbatch was joined by Cecily Strong, playing a servant, who was left to question the impact the decision would have on women. “Shouldn’t women have the right to choose, since having a baby means a 50 percent chance of dying?” asked Strong’s character.

Kate McKinnon played a “woman in her thirties” blessed with the power of foresight by a “weird mushroom in a pile of cow dung”. She told Strong’s character: “Worry not, dear girl, these barbaric laws will some day be overtuned by something called ‘progress’. Then, about 50 years after the progres, they’ll be like, ‘Maybe we should undo the progress.’”

She added: “I don’t know why, my visions from that time are very confusing. It seems like all the power comes from a place called Florida. And if you think our customs are weird, you should watch the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.”

Cumberbatch is hosting Saturday Night Live for the second time, having first hosted in 2016. The week’s musical guests are Arcade Fire.