Nikki Haley showed up on ‘Saturday Night Live’ — how’d that go?

GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley played “a concerned South Carolina voter” in a skit on “Saturday Night Live” that jabbed her primary competitor, Donald Trump, for his age and raised questions about his mental condition.

The appearance, which Haley posted on social media, was part of the show’s opening, which featured a mock presidential town hall with comedian James Austin Johnson playing Trump.

Some observers described the appearance as “cringeworthy” and evidence that Haley is the “preferred establishment candidate.” Similar commentary followed Donald Trump’s appearance on the show in 2015, with one writer for Vox saying that the skits were “bland, boring and toothless” and “the show inviting (Trump) to host felt like tacit support.”

But Haley’s appearance drew sharp criticism for making light of controversy over her response to a question at a December town hall in New Hampshire about the cause of the Civil War. Haley replied, “I think the cause of the Civil War was basically, how government was going to run — the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.” After backlash, she later clarified, “I mean, of course the Civil War was about slavery.”

On the “Saturday Night Live” skit, she was asked by host Ayo Edebiri, “What would you say was the main cause of the Civil War? And do you think it starts with an ‘S’ and ends with a ‘lavery’?” Haley replied, “Yep, I probably should have said that the first time.”

That exchange drew ire on the social media platform X, with some people saying it was especially egregious at the beginning of Black History Month, and one person accusing the show of “comedy-washing hateful conservatives.”

Haley’s jokes also played into her political strategy of attacking both Trump and President Joe Biden for their age, which some see as ageism.

In the “Saturday Night Live” skit, she suggested that the Trump character might need a mental-competency test — something Haley has proposed for politicians over the age of 75 — and following up to a reference about the line “I see dead people” from the movie “The Sixth Sense,” she said, “That’s what voters will say if they see you and Joe (Biden) on the ballot.”

Related

• Haley’s newest pitch: Trump, Biden are ‘grumpy old men’

• Perspective: The battle of the superagers

Quoting anonymous sources, The Hollywood Reporter said that “NBC will comply with any equal time obligations for other presidential candidates across both parties” — which means there might be a Biden and Trump appearance to come.