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WATCH: ‘SNL' Takes Crack at Mass. School With Lights Stuck on for Over a Year

The issue has cost the public school in Wilbraham, near Springfield, thousands of dollars a month, an administrator said

Matt Nighswander / NBC News

A Massachusetts high school that's been unable to turn off its roughly 7,000 lights found itself as the butt of a joke on "Saturday Night Live" this week.

The lights at Minnechaug Regional High School haven't been turned off since Aug. 24, 2021 after lighting system software failed, NBC News reported last week. The issue has cost the public school in Wilbraham, near Springfield, thousands of dollars a month, with the necessary fix delayed because of the pandemic and issues with the supply chain, an administrator said.

The writers at "SNL" caught wind of the problem, featuring it on the "Weekend Update" segment. Co-host Colin Jost mentioned what happened, then added, "the students are doing fine but the classroom hamster has gone insane."

As Jost delivered the punchline, a graphic showed a bugged-out hamster surrounded by cigarette butts, covered in shavings and in front of a wall with tally marks showing its days in captivity.

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