Pop Star Nick Jonas Mimics Keith Raniere at Volleyball on Saturday Night Live

There is increasing evidence that Keith Raniere is making his mark as a cultural icon in ways he probably never imagined. For instance, last night, on NBC’s Saturday Night Live,  there was a comedy sketch starring Nick Jonas called “The Murder Show.”

Jonas plays the dual role of host and Nxivm founder, Keith Raniere.

The skit is a lampoon of women relaxing by binge-watching documentaries about gruesome murders.

The skit also features Chloe Fineman, Kate McKinnon, Ego Nwodim, and Melissa Villaseñor.

The skit begins with Jonas asking Fineman about her plans for the evening. She tells Jonas that she’s just going to “finish up work and relax.”

Then we see three other women.

“I have the whole night to unwind and do a little self-care, the only way I know how,” Nwodim, Villaseñor, and McKinnon say as the screen shifts to them in their respective homes. McKinnon picks up her remote and turns on Netflix.

“I’m gonna watch a murder show,” the women sing together. “Netflix, Showtime, HBO and Dateline, YouTube, Hulu, that’s my favorite thing to do.”

As they sing, about murders they’re watching, Fineman folds her pajamas, Villaseñor curls up on the couch, eating a slice of pizza, and McKinnon texts her sister about her baby.

Nwodim sings, “They dig up some bodies and do an autopsy. Boring, wake me up when it’s Munchausen by proxy.”

“As soon as I’m done, I listen to a podcast about the same guy as the show I just watched because now I’m fully down the rabbit hole,” the women sing.

Jonas comes back in the scene to tell Fineman, “You do realize there’s a type of show that’s even better than murder shows, right?” Then he sings, “Have you heard about cult shows?”

Enter Nick Jonas as Keith Raniere

The music video then cuts to Jonas dancing as Keith Raniere in his volleyball attire. Readers of Frank Report have seen his photos for years and as seen on the HBO docuseries “The Vow.”

Here are some screenshots of Jonas as Raniere.

Here is the original, the Vanguard himself:

Keith Raniere used to play late-night volleyball weekly, on Friday nights – and usually pretty late – such as midnight and later. It was part of the Nxivm-Village culture.  Some were permitted to play with Keith, who several sources said, was a reasonably good player.

Others, women especially, were permitted to watch the games and in between the play and afterward, Raniere would mingle and oftentimes offer special words of wisdom to those who attended.

His women followers often strongly suggested that students, especially slender young female Nxivm students, attend and watch the volleyball as if it were a special privilege, if not almost a duty, to go to watch Keith.

During the trial of Keith Raniere, volleyball was mentioned more than once. During the testimony of Lauren Salzman, she said that because she roughhoused with another man, actually touching him during a volleyball game, Raniere decided she had committed an ethical breach and that she was unfit to have a baby with him.

When Daniela finally decided to leave her solitary confinement at her home, she surprised Keith when they were playing volleyball by appearing there. She testified he immediately retreated and refused to see her.

Karen U once showed me the bathroom of hers and Keith’s townhouse on 3 Flintlock Lane where she said [and Daniela testified] Keith locked himself in to escape Daniela’s inquiries and accusations.

A New High for Nick Jonas?

Singer and actor, Nick Jonas, 28,  with a string of hit records, numerous TV and major film appearances, tens of millions of fans, an estimated net worth of $50 million, married to a beautiful actress, who was formerly Miss World, and with enough offers to have to turn down most of them, holding literally the spear of victory in his hands — what in life can hold anything to match that?

There are some who will argue that last night on Saturday Night Live, when he got to portray and even dance as the Vanguard, took Nick to brand new heights.

There is an apocryphal story told of Raniere that once, when he planned on suing one of his former lovers, he told his advisors who tried to dissuade him, reminding him that he used to dance with her, “Dancing, Women? And where do they get you? I don’t want no dancing. I’m figuring on making other people dance.”

And in all fairness, he really did.

Frank Parlato