Saturday Night Live had its sights set on the Jussie Smollett scandal last night (March 2) with a skit called "Shark Tank: Legal Edition." The sketch tweaked the show's premise a bit, switching out investors with infamous defense attorneys and innovators for celebrities pleading their case as to why they need high-profile legal help.
First up was Robert Kraft (Beck Bennett), the New England Patriots owner who's currently in hot water for soliciting prostitution at a spa in Florida. He explained his predicament to the panel of lawyers: Michael Avenatti (Pete Davidson), attorney turned Fox news commentator Jeanine Pirro (Cecily Strong), O.J. Simpson's defense attorney Alan Dershowitz (John Mulaney) and Rudy Giuliani (Kate McKinnon).
After giving hilarious responses to his situation, they heard from Smollett (Chris Redd).
"I was just attacked outside the studio by Donald Trump himself," Smollett proclaimed as soon as he walked on set.
"Is that true?" Dershowitz asked.
"Are there cameras outside?" Smollett asked back. When the consensus was "yes," he replied: "Then no."
The actor then gave the panel incentive to help him out. "If you take my case, I'm offering spoilers for the next season of Empire: I die," Smollett divulged.
"You have everything I love in a client," Dershowitz said. "You're famous, you're probably guilty, end of list."
Pirro declared she had to recuse after revealing she had written fan fiction about this type of scenario and is, quite frankly, too turned on to take the case.
Watch the skit below.
The parody comes just over a week after Smollett was arrested for filing a false police report after claiming he had been attacked for being a black, gay man. He allegedly staged the attack and paid his assailants $3500. After posting bail, he went back to the Empire set; however, his character was cut for the last two episodes of the season.
Photo: YouTube