The best shade from Kim Kardashian on ‘SNL’: Her family, her divorce, and more

Kim Kardashian stepped onto the Saturday Night Live stage in October 2021 for a hosting slot that mixed family lore, public feuds, and pointed self-mockery. The episode arrived during season 47 with Halsey as musical guest, and the writers leaned into the reality star’s willingness to lampoon her own circle rather than shield it. The result felt sharper than the usual celebrity-host gamble, especially when the monologue moved from quick one-liners into full sketches that revisited the divorce from Kanye West, the optics of Kris Jenner’s relationship with Corey Gamble, and the long shadow of Robert Kardashian’s defense work for O.J. Simpson.

Kim holds no punches

Kim opened the show by addressing the gold-digger narrative attached to her marriage, then pivoted to her mother’s boyfriend with a line suggesting she would ask Corey Gamble for pointers. She followed with a brief nod to O.J. Simpson, saying she would take a “stab in the dark” at hosting, a reference that landed because Robert Kardashian had served on Simpson’s defense team years earlier. The monologue stayed brisk, never lingering on any single target. Later updates put additional context around those jokes: O.J. Simpson died in April 2024, and Kris Jenner addressed relationship rumors with Corey Gamble during an April 2026 podcast appearance.

The standout sketch of the night, “The People’s Kourt,” placed Kim in the role of her older sister Kourtney as a no-nonsense judge presiding over family disputes. Cases included Kris Jenner versus Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Kanye West versus Kim, and Kim versus Khloe Kardashian. Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian appeared as themselves, while Pete Davidson played Machine Gun Kelly and Mikey Day played Travis Barker. The bit leaned on deadpan delivery and quick cuts between the bench and the gallery, and it remains the segment most often cited when the episode surfaces in later Kardashian coverage.

Legacy of the Roasts in Kardashian Media

Years after the broadcast, the 2021 monologue and sketches continue to surface in family interviews and social-media roundups. Kim has referenced the same themes of ex-relationships and public boundaries during 2026 conversations, often framing them as part of the larger discussion about what stays private. The “People’s Kourt” premise itself underscored how much interest remains in the family’s disputes, turning a single sketch into shorthand for ongoing tabloid fascination. Later reflections treat the night less as a one-off roast and more as an early marker of how the family would manage public narratives around breakups and new chapters.

Kourtney and Travis: From Sketch to Marriage

The 2021 sketch portrayed Travis Barker as Kourtney’s boyfriend; the timeline has since moved forward. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker married in 2022. They welcomed son Rocky Thirteen after the SNL episode aired. In a 2025 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Kim Kardashian stated there had never been any romantic involvement between herself and Barker, addressing long-standing rumors that the sketch had playfully referenced. The update places the original cameo in clearer perspective without changing what the writers chose to highlight at the time.

SNL Cameos and Celebrity Crossovers

The episode stood out for its unusually crowded guest list. The Bachelorette-style sketch featured John Cena, Chris Rock, Blake Griffin, Jesse Williams, and Amy Schumer alongside Kyle Mooney’s extended bit. Pete Davidson and Mikey Day handled the Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker roles in “The People’s Kourt.” Additional segments, including a digital short titled “Freaky Friday,” rounded out the hour. The volume of recognizable names gave the show crossover appeal that extended beyond typical SNL viewership and helped the episode register in later retrospectives of high-profile hosting turns.

O.J. Simpson Reference in Context

The monologue line about taking a “stab in the dark” drew directly from the Kardashian family’s documented history with O.J. Simpson. Robert Kardashian had been part of Simpson’s defense team during the 1995 trial. The joke in 2021 treated that connection as common knowledge among viewers. Simpson’s death in April 2024 later added another layer to how the line reads in replays, though the original delivery remained a quick aside rather than an extended bit.

SNL has a strong week

Half the sketches landing cleanly counts as a win for the series, and this installment cleared that bar. Kim revisited her divorce from Kanye West multiple times, most directly in a sketch where Chris Redd reprised his impression of the rapper. The divorce itself was filed in 2021 and finalized in November 2022; the couple has continued co-parenting their four children as of 2026. The willingness to keep those references in the script gave the show a sense of immediacy that later coverage noted when ranking memorable celebrity-hosted episodes. Viewers who tuned in for the cameos or the family material found an hour that balanced roast energy with enough structure to keep momentum through the commercial breaks.