The Secret Service Confirmed That John Mulaney Was Investigated Over Jokes On “Saturday Night Live”

Back in early December, during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, John Mulaney revealed he’d been investigated by the Secret Service over a joke he made on the February 29, 2020 episode of Saturday Night Live.

In his open monologue, 38-year-old John said that Julius Caesar was such a powerful maniac that all his senators stabbed him to death. Then he added: “That would be an interesting thing if we brought that back.” Now, John insisted his joke was about Caesar, not Trump, but said the feds opened a file on him anyway. And yesterday Rolling Stone actually got their hands on that file (27 pages!) from the Secret Service.

According to the files, the John Mulaney investigation was opened the day after he hosted SNL. Wow, I didn’t know the feds were legally allowed to work Sundays. The incident was filed under the activity “Exhibits inappropriate behavior.” The agency’s protective intelligence and assessment division wrote that John “made inappropriate statements regarding President Trump on Saturday Night Live.” It also read, via Rolling Stone:

“On 3/1/20 … [it was] discovered that a monologue performed by John Mulaney on a Saturday Night Live was gaining considerable social media attention,” the report says. Elsewhere, it notes that “although no direct threats were made, due to the popularity, it is likely concerned citizens will report this.” The report states that on March 2nd, the agency contacted Thomas McCarthy, Global Chief Security Officer for NBCUniversal to “express the agency’s desire to discuss the aforementioned incident with attorneys for Mulaney.” (McCarthy did not reply to a request for comment.)

The file also notes that the agency never interviewed John. But when he told the story on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, John claimed said he was interviewed:

“Am I stoked there’s a file opened on me? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it in the moment? Not so much,” he said. “But the person vetting me was very understanding.” He said that the investigator understood his bit had nothing to do with Trump and that “it was an elliptical reference to him,” he explained. “I didn’t say anything about him … They were very nice in the interview. In terms of risk assessment, no one who’s ever looked at me has thought I’d registered above a one.”

He added that he’d since been cleared by the Secret Service.

No comment from John, who’s still in a 60-day rehab program for alcohol and cocaine addiction. He’d reportedly been sober for 15 years but relapsed during the pandemic. I wonder if news of the Secret Service confirming the SNL story will reach John in rehab. I betcha he makes a big dramatic speech in group therapy,“See?! I told you the government was watching me, I TOLD YOU ALL! But you allll blamed the drugs!”

Pic: Instagram