Kate McKinnon Brings America to Tears With 'SNL' Cold Open

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(Image credit: NBC)

published 13 November 2016

Since the election results rolled in early Wednesday morning and was called for president-elect Donald Trump, I've been speculating how SNL would play it. Well, that's not entirely true. First I cried. I cried as I watched Hillary Clinton give her eloquent and inspiring concession speech, and as I watched the rallying cries of my LGBTQ friends, my fellow women, my black, hispanic, and Muslim friends who feared for their lives and their rights. Then I joined their rallies in front of Trump Towers.

But, back to SNL. There was no question we'd be looking at a cold open with Kate McKinnon dressed in her pantsuit and HRC wig. I also expected to see the not-so-final return of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump. Would they try to make us laugh? Instead, SNL surprised me and left me in tears once again.

Dressed in suffragette white, Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton sat alone at a piano to sing a beautiful and, at moments, tearful rendition of 'Hallelujah,' by Leonard Cohen, who died on Thursday.

As McKinnon finished, she stared straight into the camera and said on behalf of herself and her caricature, "I'm not giving up and neither should you. And live from New York, it's Saturday night."

Below the full lyrics of Leonard Cohen's song:

I've heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

Well it goes like this

The fourth, the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before

I've seen this room and

I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew ya

I've seen your flag on the marble arch

And love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much

I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya

And even though it all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah

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Emily is the entertainment editor at Cosmopolitan, which is a nice way of saying she watches way too much TV and constantly wants to tell you about it.

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