SNL skewers O'Leary's Utah data center: 'I'm going to make the future go away'

Saturday Night Live went after Kevin O'Leary's Utah data center plan this week, and the punchline was as sharp as the controversy is real. In a Weekend Update segment, comedian James Austin Johnson played the Shark Tank investor and delivered the line already circling the internet: 'These things are terrible and shouldn't be anywhere. That's why I'm building one in Utah.' The real O'Leary is backing the Stratos Project, a massive data center spanning just over 20,000 acres, down from an original 40,000 acres after public pushback. The sketch also captured O'Leary's tone toward critics, with Johnson's version saying, 'All I want is to buy up 40,000 acres of God's untouched splendor and replace it with a very loud computer that steals your job.'

The comedy did not stop there. Johnson's O'Leary acknowledged the real O'Leary's inflammatory claim that some Utah critics are 'paid communist super agents from China,' a charge O'Leary later walked back. The comedy version quipped, 'Was I wrong? Perhaps. But just because they're not, doesn't mean they aren't.' Then came the closer: 'I'm going to make the future go away. And we're doing just that in Utah.' The joke lands because it captures the exact tension playing out across the country: Americans want the benefits of AI, but many do not want the physical infrastructure in their backyard.

That opposition is measurable. An actual Gallup poll from May found that over half of American survey respondents opposed constructing AI data centers in their local area. In Utah, that resistance has taken the form of protests, petitions, and legal action. Local residents have raised concerns that the Stratos Project could strain water and power resources and damage the environment. Some also say they feel left in the dark, criticizing what they describe as a lack of transparency from O'Leary and local leaders. The project, backed by O'Leary Digital, has become a flashpoint in the broader fight over where AI infrastructure gets built.

Proponents of data centers see a different equation. Tech companies depend on these facilities to power AI systems and products. Supporters argue the projects create jobs, bolster local economies, and help the United States compete with China in the global AI race. But for the communities being asked to host them, the trade-offs often feel immediate and personal: land consumed, water diverted, noise and power lines added, and long-term benefits that are hard to quantify.

O'Leary is not backing down. In June, he told Business Insider that the project faces 'bumps in the road' including litigation, misinformation, and propaganda, but insisted, 'If you know what you're doing is right, you make it, you get there. Persevere.' He also faced a defamation lawsuit filed in July by a Utah advocacy group that publicly opposed the project, after O'Leary suggested on Fox News that some critics have ties to the Chinese Communist Party. He later walked back that claim.

The SNL segment is more than a celebrity roast. It is a signal that the AI infrastructure boom has entered a new phase where public opinion, humor, and local politics can shape project economics. For executives and investors, the joke encodes a real risk: if a project becomes a punchline, it can attract regulatory scrutiny, slow permitting, and embolden opposition. The Stratos Project's downsizing from 40,000 to 20,000 acres is evidence that public pushback already has consequences.

For companies planning similar builds, the takeaway is not to avoid AI infrastructure, but to recognize that community engagement is now a material business risk. The companies that win the AI race will need to explain what they are building, why it matters, and what they are giving back. Otherwise, they may find their next groundbreaking announced not in a press release, but in a comedy monologue.