--- title: 'Saturday Night Live' Cancels Its 'Game of Thrones' Tribute description: Instead of a flashy "Game of Thrones" parody, Pete Davidson rapped about his actual favorite show on the 'Saturday Night Live' finale. canonical: https://time.com/5591545/snl-game-of-thrones-rap-fail/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-19T15:03:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:59.917Z og:title: Watch 'Saturday Night Live' Try and Fail to Pay Tribute to 'Game of Thrones' on Season Finale og:description: Pete Davidson and DJ Khaled rapped about their actual favorite show instead og:url: https://time.com/5591545/snl-game-of-thrones-rap-fail/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteebfd31585d787a1/69894a1b09208fa27f413d9b/snl-season-finale.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Saturday Night Live - Season 44 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch 'Saturday Night Live' Try and Fail to Pay Tribute to 'Game of Thrones' on Season Finale twitter:description: Pete Davidson and DJ Khaled rapped about their actual favorite show instead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteebfd31585d787a1/69894a1b09208fa27f413d9b/snl-season-finale.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch _Saturday Night Live_ Try and Fail to Pay Tribute to _Game of Thrones_ on Season Finale > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza May 19, 2019 3:03 PM UTC  Kenan Thompson and Jacob Anderson on "Saturday Night Live" on May 18, 2019. Kenan Thompson and Jacob Anderson on "Saturday Night Live" on May 18, 2019. Steven Molina Contreras—NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza May 19, 2019 3:03 PM UTC Everything was set for a flashy rap tribute to [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/5589257/game-of-thrones-kings-landing-attack-history/) on the 44th season finale of [_Saturday Night Live_](http://time.com/5587744/republican-leaders-trump-saturday-night-live/)— high-end lighting, Pete Davidson with a gold chain, even a surprise appearance from [Jacob Anderson](http://time.com/5578992/game-of-thrones-grey-worm-jacob-anderson-interview/), who plays Grey Worm on the hit TV show. But when it came time to lay down some verses, the results were … uninspired. “Jon Snow, dragons, lotsa wolves, blue zombies, armor clothes, silver swords that extendo, prostitute houses, lotsa wine and a big \*\*\* wall,” Davidson rapped. “Never miss an episode. There’s hobbits and toads. Magic and muggles, I assume some crows.” As it turned out, Davidson had never actually seen the show. “Look, Pete, you don’t have to do a rap about _Game of Thrones_ just because it’s the most popular show in the world right now,” said longtime cast member Kenan Thompson. That’s when things got weird. With free reign to sing about his _actual_ favorite show, Davidson, along with special guests DJ Khaled and Paul Rudd, performed an extended rap about Netflix’s _Grace and Frankie_ instead. “Better than _Game of Thrones_,” rapped DJ Khaled. “Grace and Frankie. They’re different but they’re friends. It’s a nice show,” he sang later, paying homage to the Netflix series starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. The season finale also kicked off with a musical cold open, which featured Alec Baldwin returning as President Trump, joining several cast members — and Robert De Niro — in a parody rendition of the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now.” “I’m very excited about summer, getting around to those things I never have time for.” Baldwin-as-Trump said before the musical number started. “Golf, visiting friends in prison, and enjoying all the fantastic new tariffs from China.” “Wait a second,” said De Niro as Robert Mueller later on. “I have something very important to say to the American people. Something they need to hear.” “No collusion, no obstruction,” Baldwin’s Trump jumped in. 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