What does debanking mean? SNL trolled over viral segment mocking Donald Trump  

SNL garners immense backlash after comedian claims that
SNL garners immense backlash after comedian claims that 'debanking' is not a word (Image via colinjost/Instagram)

NBC’s Saturday Night Live has garnered significant backlash online after one of their comedians asserted that 'debanking' is not a real word. This comes after Colin Jost trolled former President Donald Trump for using the aforementioned term. At the time of writing this article, the show had not responded to the public scrutiny it was receiving.

Debanking is not a new term and has gained distinction in recent years. In simple words, it is the process of closing all of a customer’s accounts to the extent that they are no longer able to conduct financial operations,

During SNL's recent broadcast, Colin Jost admitted to not knowing what debanking meant. He also claimed that Trump made the word up. Jost said during his segment:

“Trump did have a slight stumble this week while talking about banks, and he introduced a new term called debank... I don’t know what the hell debank means, but he might have to take De-ambulance to see Da-doctor.”

Popular X page End Wokeness weighed in on the situation, tweeting, “Not one SNL writer or audience member realized that de-banking is a real thing actually happening to the right.”

At the time of writing this article, the tweet had amassed nearly five million views. Meanwhile, several netizens took to the internet to troll the show and Jost.


What does debanking mean? Financial term explained as netizens put SNL on blast

According to Key Point Law, debanking refers to the process of closing all of a customer’s accounts to the extent that they can no longer operate. This applies not only to retail customers but also to businesses. When someone becomes a victim of the same, they become “financially destitute” for an unknown period and face the consequences of this action.

Unless a person has kept their income in another transactional account at another financial institution, they no longer have access to their own funds.

Debanking often occurs when a customer’s religious or political views do not align with those of the financial institution.

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Debanking has gained prominence in recent years, especially with several conservatives facing account closures by renowned financial organizations. In 2023, the Indigenous Advances Ministries, based in Tennessee, claimed that the Bank of America was debanking their accounts due to their religious views.

In response to the alleged debanking, the Bank of America told Fox News in a statement that they had closed the organization’s account due to the “internal debt collection policy,” but evidence of the same had not been provided to the news outlet.

Additionally, Canada’s Justin Trudeau took forceful action by freezing the bank accounts of multiple Freedom Convoy truckers and protestors who opposed his vaccine mandates.

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UK Political activist Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank account was closed as well. The former Brexit leader claimed that the bank did so due to his politics. A British news outlet claimed that they received a memo from Coutts, who claimed that Farage’s views did “not align” with the bank.

Speaking about such instances, former President Trump addressed the same in New Hampshire earlier this month by saying:

“We’re going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to de-bank you. They want to de-bank you. ‘We’re going to de-bank…’ Think of this — they want to take away your country.”

“Most embarrassing and self-revealing gaffes”: Netizens put SNL under blast following Colin Jost’s error

Internet users relentlessly thrashed the comedian and the cult-favorite show by saying:

As mentioned prior, the show had not addressed the intense trolling at the time of writing this article.

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