Kate McKinnon's SNL Tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Left People In Tears

Kate McKinnon paid a touching tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during Saturday Night Live's season premiere.

As Colin Jost and Michael Che wrapped up the "Weekend Update" segment of the show, the camera panned to McKinnon, sitting in the front row of the audience dressed as the feminist icon for what may be the final time.

McKinnon, wearing prop glasses and a black robe with a lace collar, bowed her head and pressed her right hand to her chest before looking up in a silent tribute to Ginsburg, who died of complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87 on September 18.

The screen then displayed "rest in power" over a shot of the items that make up McKinnon's costume before going to a commercial break.

Many viewers took to Twitter to say the tribute had made them emotional, with some saying it had left them in tears.

"Kate's tribute to RBG has me in tears," Holly Robinson Peete wrote.

"Oh, Kate McKinnon," added reporter Andrea Lucia, along with a crying face emoji. "Beautiful nod to #RBG."

Karen Dalton Beninato added: "Kate McKinnon's RBG in the audience got me."

"Saw a single glimpse of Kate McKinnon as RBG on @nbcsnl and burst into tears, so yes, I'm doing well, why do you ask?" Margaret Gleason added.

Another Twitter user added: "Kate McKinnon retiring the notorious RBG character has me in literal tears."

McKinnon has portrayed Ginsburg on Saturday Night Live for several years. A sketch in an April episode of the show, filmed remotely due to the coronavirus shutdown, had McKinnon, as Ginsburg, showing viewers how the Supreme Court Justice was working out and keeping fit at home.

After Ginsburg's death last month, McKinnon said that meeting Ginsburg had been "one of the great honors of my life" and that portraying her was a "profound joy."

"For so many of us, Justice Ginsburg was a real-life superhero: a beacon of hope, a warrior for justice, a robed crusader who saved the day time and again," McKinnon said in a statement. "Playing her on SNL was a profound joy because I could always feel the overwhelming love and gratitude that the audience had for her. It was one of the great honors of my life to meet Justice Ginsburg, to shake her hand, and to thank her for her lifetime of service to this country."

Meanwhile, SNL's 46th season opener also saw Jim Carrey making his debut as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Carrey appeared alongside Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump in the episode's cold open lampooning Tuesday's presidential debate.

Later, host Chris Rock mocked Trump's coronavirus diagnosis during his monologue, joking that his "heart goes out to COVID."