Host Trevor Noah made digs at former President Donald Trump and the Biden administration during the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday night, while Jill Biden appeared to present the first ever “Best Song for Social Change.”
In his opening monologue for the 65th annual awards show, Noah took a shot at Trump during his first joke of the night, after rapper Bad Bunny’s opening performance.
“Every time I listen to it I get hips I never knew I had,” he said about the Puerto Rican artist’s music.
“This album is so fiery it makes Trump want to learn Spanish, it does,” Noah snarked.
He capped off the joke by doing an impression of the 45th president saying the album’s title, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which translates to “a summer without you.”
Noah also poked at the Biden administration with a crack about the Chinese spy balloon that they allowed fly over the country for days, before finally shooting it down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
“My job is to be your eyes, your ears. I’ll float around in this room. Treat me like a Chinese spy balloon,” Noah jested.
“That’s what I’m doing right now – gathering any information you want, because that’s the room.”
Trump slammed the Biden administration on Sunday, after a defense official reported that Chinese spy balloons had violated the sovereignty of the United States three times during his time in office.
“This never happened. It would have never happened,” he commented to Fox News Digital on Sunday.
“It never happened with us under the Trump administration, and if it did, we would have shot it down immediately,” Trump continued. “It’s disinformation.”
He said the White House released the information to deflect, because “they look so bad, as usual,” adding that the Biden administration is “incompetent.”
Top Trump administration national security and defense officials also refuted the claim, including John Bolton, Robert O’Brien, Richard Grenell, John Ratcliffe, Mark Esper, and Chris Miller.
“I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I’d never heard of any of that occurring before I joined in 2018,” Bolton stated.
“I haven’t heard of anything that occurred after I left either,” he asserted. “I can say with 100% certainty, not during my tenure.”
Biden officials walked back the their initial statement on Sunday, noting that the “information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left.”
The official said that the balloons were “part of a larger pattern” of behavior from the People’s Liberation Army, but that “they went undetected” by the Trump administration.
“Two things can be true at once: this happened, and it wasn’t detected,” the official defended.
The Biden administration was represented by first lady Jill Biden at the Grammys, when she presented the show’s inaugural “Best Song for Social Change” at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
“A song can unite, inspire and ultimately change the world,” Biden began.
She detailed that the new award recognizes a song that “responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact.”
Biden presented the award to Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour for his song “Baraye,” which became the protest anthem of Iran as the country rages over the death of Mahsa Amini, who was beaten to death by the country’s morality police for “improperly” wearing a hijab.
The 25-year-old singer was arrested and released on charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “instigating the violence,” along with 19,600 people during the months-long protests.
He faces up to six years in prison and is not allowed to leave the country.
Singer Kim Petras became the first transgender singer to win a Grammy for her hit song “Unholy,” with non-binary singer Sam Smith.
The song is about a married man that regularly cheats on his wife with transgender women.
Petras thanked Madonna, who presented the award, for “fighting for LGBTQ rights,” and her mother, who “believed me that I was a girl and I wouldn’t be here without her and her support.”
In other puns Noah made during the night, he took a jab at M&M’s for ditching their controversially “woke” candy spokescharacters for former SNL actress Maya Rudolph.
Noah joked that “women throw up their panties” at British heartthrob Harry Styles when he’s on stage.
“Then he puts them on, and he looks better in it than she does. Simply the sexiest man alive – there is no competition,” he complimented.
“Sex symbol of the world – especially now that they’ve done away with the green M&M – no competition. RIP, Green. We miss you.”
He took a swipe at Southwest for their flight cancellation fiasco over the holiday season, while discussing Taylor Swift’s sky high album sales.
“The only music we listened to more than Taylor’s music was the music on hold for Southwest Airlines – that was it,” he joked. “They have the real streaming numbers.”
George Santos was dissed by comedian Randy Rainbow during the Premiere Ceremony, over his lie about being an investor in Broadway flop “Spider-man: Turn off the Dark.”
“There will be no George Santos jokes at this performance,” Rainbow started.
“Even though, he has been nominated in the category of best pop vocal album. At least that’s what he told me.”
A member of the ill-fated 2011 production denied that Santos had any involvement with the show.
“Of all the tribulations the producers of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ had to endure,” a spokesperson said to Entertainment Weekly.
“We are very pleased, proud and relieved to report working with George Santos was not one of them.”