Lizzo takes ‘iconic’ swipe at Donald Trump’s tariffs during SNL performance

“About Damn Time” singer Lizzo was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this week, and while the actors and comics took aim at Donald Trump with a parody of HBO series The White Lotus, the musician called out the US president in a thinly veiled fashion which viewers are calling “legendary”.

Performing on a US flag-inspired stage, the artist – real name Melissa Jefferson – was seen sporting a black T-shirt with the word ‘Tariffied’ on it while singing “Love In Real Life” and “Still Bad”, in what was clearly a reference to Trump’s global tariffs (now paused for 90 days) which have sparked an economic crisis.

Then, as host Jon Hamm brought the show to a close, with A Real Pain star Kieran Culkin also on stage with him, Lizzo was seen sporting a different shirt which read “Black women were right”.

Lizzo’s latest swipes at Trump have since been praised by fans on Twitter/X:

One user leant into the ‘tariff’ puns themselves and said Lizzo was “tariffic”:

Another described it as “iconic”:

The rapper has been vocal in her criticism of Trump, and appeared at a campaign rally for the Democrats’ presidential nominee Kamala Harris in October last year, delivering a speech which took aim at the Republican’s claims that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Harris won the election and it will “have a mess on [its] hands”.

She clapped back: “Proud like Detroit, resilient like Detroit. We’re talking about the same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry, so put some respect on Detroit’s name!”

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