Image: NBC

The first Saturday Night Live episode of the Trump administration remained reliably full of oblique digs at the new president, but it’s one writer’s off-the-cuff remark that’s drawn the internet’s ire. According to The Chicago Tribune, SNL writer Katie Rich posted a disparaging, since-deleted tweet about Barron Trump on Inauguration Day.


Screenshot: The New York Post

There was a prompt backlash to Rich’s prediction that the youngest Trump would become the nation’s “first homeschool shooter.” Rich has since set her Twitter timeline to private and disabled her website, but there’s now an online petition calling for NBC to fire her. The Tribune notes that Rich’s name was absent from the January 21 episode’s credits. It’s unclear if her name was missing because she just didn’t contribute a sketch to that episode, or because she’s been let go, but NBC hasn’t commented on the matter. The A.V. Club also reached out to the network, but, as of the time of this writing, hasn’t heard back.




UPDATE: A person familiar with the situation at NBC says Rich was suspended immediately after her tweet was published, and the suspension is indefinite.