--- title: Don Cheadle's 'SNL' Wardrobe Had a Serious Message description: Both outfits appeared to have a strong message for the President canonical: https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-17T21:52:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:47:43.825Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Don Cheadle Made Some Serious Political Statements With His 'Saturday Night Live' Wardrobe og:description: Both outfits appeared to have a strong message for the President og:url: https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2fc90d69140e97/6989454d7cdbacd0a8d5f11c/don-cheadle.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Don-Cheadle-Saturday-Night-Live-Pete-Davision-Gary-Clark og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Don Cheadle Made Some Serious Political Statements With His 'Saturday Night Live' Wardrobe twitter:description: Both outfits appeared to have a strong message for the President twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2fc90d69140e97/6989454d7cdbacd0a8d5f11c/don-cheadle.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Don Cheadle Made Some Serious Political Statements With His 'Saturday Night Live' Wardrobe  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Feb 17, 2019 9:52 PM UTC  Musical guest Gary Clark Jr., host Don Cheadle, and Pete Davidson during Promos in Studio 8H on Feb. 14, 2019 Musical guest Gary Clark Jr., host Don Cheadle, and Pete Davidson during Promos in Studio 8H on Feb. 14, 2019NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Feb 17, 2019 9:52 PM UTC Actor Don Cheadle expressed his support for transgender children, and his distaste for President Donald Trump, on _Saturday Night Live_ this weekend. Cheadle, who is well-known for his role as War Machine in Marvel superhero movies and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in 2004’s _Hotel Rwanda,_ has [expressed his distaste](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/don-cheadle-trump-used-n-word-with-friends-father-on-golf-course-w470479/) for the President before. His Twitter bio includes “#resist”- a popular way of expressing opposition to Trump – and his profile photo is of 7-year-old [Jakelin Caal](http://time.com/5481070/father-7-year-old-died-border-patrol-custody/), who died in Customs and Board Patrol custody. On Saturday, Cheadle used his clothes to make two big political statements. He introduced the episode’s musical guest Gary Clark Jr. while wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” T-shirt. Then, he ended the show wearing an “CCCP” (Russian for U.S.S.R) hockey jersey with the number “45” (a reference to Trump as the 45th President) and the President’s name across the back. Both outfits appeared to have a strong message for the President. Trump has been criticized for pursuing [policies](http://time.com/5432489/transgender-definition-medicine/) that are harmful for [transgender people](http://time.com/5514826/scotus-trans-troops-history/), and he faces multiple accusations that he [colluded](http://time.com/5506815/collusion-crime-obstruction-finance-trump-cohen/) with Russia to win the 2016 election. Many people wrote on Twitter that they were happy to see Cheadle’s clothing choices. > [](https://twitter.com/FredTJoseph/status/1097122329556119552) > [](https://twitter.com/adamcbest/status/1097047337342504960) Trans and LGBTQIA rights advocates were especially enthusiastic about Cheadle’s statement. Chad Griffin, president of the LGBTQIA rights group Human Rights Campaign, tweeted, “Wow. Thank you @DonCheadle for using this opportunity to stand up for trans kids. True ally.” > [](https://twitter.com/ChadHGriffin/status/1097151434158759937) > [](https://twitter.com/whydyouhave2BOO/status/1097009648983511041) > [](https://twitter.com/VinceSchilling/status/1097179245657378817) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/"},"headline":"Don Cheadle Made Some Serious Political Statements With His 'Saturday Night Live' Wardrobe","datePublished":"2019-02-17T21:52:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:47:43.825Z","description":"Both outfits appeared to have a strong message for the President","url":"https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/","keywords":["Saturday Night Live","entertainment","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2fc90d69140e97/6989454d7cdbacd0a8d5f11c/don-cheadle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2fc90d69140e97/6989454d7cdbacd0a8d5f11c/don-cheadle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Don-Cheadle-Saturday-Night-Live-Pete-Davision-Gary-Clark","caption":"Don Cheadle appeared on SNL on Feb. 16","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/saturday-night-live/","name":"Saturday Night Live"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5531524/don-cheadle-snl-wardrobe/","name":"Don Cheadle Made Some Serious Political Statements With His 'Saturday Night Live' Wardrobe"}}]}] ```