It’s not often that Netflix, Saturday Night Live, and the K-Pop world collide — but on Saturday night, they did so with dazzling effect.

During SNL’s season-51 premiere, hosted by global superstar Bad Bunny, the voices behind Netflix’s animated juggernaut KPop Demon Hunters — Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — appeared in the closing moments of a sketch that sent fans and social media into collective meltdown.

The Sketch: From Brunch to Battle

The segment began innocently enough. Bad Bunny played an adult man sulking through brunch because his friends refused to watch his favorite animated film, KPop Demon Hunters. As the conversation spiraled, Bunny’s character broke into impassioned defenses of the movie’s fictional girl group, HUNTR/X, insisting, “What else is gonna save you from demons, you idiot?”

Enter Bowen Yang as Jinu, the preening, dangerous leader of the movie’s rival demon boy band, the Saja Boys. The sketch turned from brunch comedy into full-on pop-fantasy chaos: thunder effects, choreography, and eventually, the live-action arrival of Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami as HUNTR/X themselves.

In a flurry of neon lighting and precisely-synchronized moves, the trio “defeated” Yang’s Jinu through song — a meta nod to the Netflix film’s central conceit that music is both weapon and salvation. The crowd roared.

From Animation to Studio 8H

While the three artists voiced their characters in Netflix’s animated hit, their SNL cameo was the first time they’d ever appeared together in live action.

For viewers unfamiliar with the phenomenon, KPop Demon Hunters has become one of Netflix’s biggest global successes since its spring 2025 release. The fantasy-action musical follows five Korean pop idols who secretly moonlight as demon slayers. Combining slick animation, high-concept mythmaking, and a thumping soundtrack, the film has held a spot in Netflix’s global Top 10 for 14 straight weeks and has been streamed over 325 million times worldwide.

Its soundtrack — anchored by HUNTR/X’s breakout hit “Golden” — debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Soundtrack chart. “Golden” went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and ruled the Billboard Global 200 for ten, becoming the first female K-Pop single in history to claim those twin crowns.

The Crossover Moment

Saturday’s cameo wasn’t just a novelty; it marked a symbolic handoff between mediums. Netflix’s animated idols were suddenly flesh-and-blood performers sharing the stage with one of late night’s most famous bilingual hosts.

The audience inside Studio 8H treated the moment like a pop concert, cheering as the trio struck final poses beside Bad Bunny and Yang. Within minutes, the clip spread across TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), where fans dissected every costume detail and lighting cue.

“Seeing them step out of animation felt like a dream sequence come to life,” one viewer wrote on Instagram. “They ARE HUNTR/X now.”

A Seamless Rollout

The timing of the cameo was anything but accidental. Just two nights later, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami are set to make their official live-performance debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. They’ll perform “Golden” and sit down with Fallon for their first late-night interview.

That booking cements a remarkable rise. In a matter of months, a Korean-American animated project has evolved into a genuine global pop brand — one that now straddles streaming, radio, and U.S. network television.

NBC executives are keenly aware of the synergy. With SNL introducing the singers in sketch form and The Tonight Show hosting their performance days later, NBCUniversal has positioned itself at the center of KPop Demon Hunters’ crossover success.

The Voices Behind HUNTR/X

Each performer brings a different background to the mix:

Ejae, a Seoul-born powerhouse vocalist, cut her teeth in indie bands before breaking out on Korean variety shows.

Audrey Nuna, a Korean-American singer-rapper from New Jersey, made waves in 2020 with her genre-bending EP a liquid break.

Rei Ami, who blends hip-hop and R&B with a sharp, irreverent edge, first rose to prominence on TikTok with tracks like “Dictator.”

Their chemistry in KPop Demon Hunters was so electric that fans began clamoring for live performances even before the film’s release. When they took the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in September — their first public appearance together — the crowd response confirmed that demand.

Why SNL?

For Saturday Night Live, the cameo was shrewd programming. Hosting Bad Bunny already guaranteed massive attention from younger, multilingual audiences. Bringing in the KPop Demon Hunters singers linked the show directly to one of the year’s most talked-about streaming phenomena.

It also highlighted SNL’s renewed commitment to international pop culture. Over the past few seasons, the show has featured artists from Rosalía to BLACKPINK, reflecting how global music increasingly drives American comedy’s most viral moments.

In this case, the bit worked because it folded those global influences directly into SNL’s DNA — self-aware, chaotic, and just a little surreal.

The Global Power of “Golden”

Behind the spectacle is a song that’s quietly rewriting records. “Golden,” the anthemic single performed by HUNTR/X, blends K-Pop polish with American R&B hooks and feminist swagger. Its English-Korean lyrics and glitter-bomb choreography have made it a unifying anthem for fans across continents.

On Spotify alone, “Golden” has surpassed 1 billion streams, and its video has become a YouTube mainstay, amassing 900 million views. The track’s producers — a mix of Seoul and Los Angeles hit-makers — credit its success to the way it bridges cultures without watering either down.

As Audrey Nuna told Billboard last month, “We didn’t want to make a ‘global’ record. We just made what felt honest — and it turned out to be universal.”

Bad Bunny’s Perfect Cameo Counterpart

That universality dovetailed neatly with Bad Bunny’s hosting turn. Like the Puerto Rican superstar, KPop Demon Hunters speaks to a generation fluent in multiple languages, cultures, and online fandoms.

By letting Bunny play a man obsessed with the movie, SNL winked at the shared phenomenon of global pop fandom — how passionate, cross-cultural communities can turn niche entertainment into worldwide movements.

Bunny’s giddy devotion to HUNTR/X, contrasted with his friends’ confusion, mirrored how early Western audiences once reacted to K-Pop itself: skeptical until the spectacle wins them over.

The Broader K-Pop Moment

The SNL cameo also lands at a turning point for K-Pop’s relationship with American television. A decade ago, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” opened the floodgates; BTS’s 2019 SNL debut made them household names. Now, projects like KPop Demon Hunters show that Korean pop culture has fully integrated into mainstream entertainment, influencing everything from fashion to film soundtracks.

By featuring HUNTR/X inside a comedy sketch, SNL acknowledged that K-Pop is no longer an import — it’s part of the ecosystem. The same goes for NBC’s willingness to spotlight the trio on Fallon: K-Pop is now late-night’s must-book genre, not an occasional novelty.

What’s Next for HUNTR/X

The Fallon appearance is just the beginning. Netflix confirmed that a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters is already in development, alongside a potential live-action spinoff series. If the SNL cameo was any indication, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami are likely to lead that charge.

Meanwhile, the group’s management announced a limited world tour for spring 2026, promising performances in Seoul, Los Angeles, and London — marking the first time a fictional animated act has translated into a touring pop group since Gorillaz two decades ago.

Closing Thoughts

When the HUNTR/X singers appeared on Saturday Night Live, it wasn’t just a fun Easter egg for fans of an animated movie. It was a symbol of how entertainment is evolving — how borders between mediums, languages, and cultures are dissolving in real time.

What began as a niche animated concept is now a global franchise spawning chart-topping singles, sold-out concerts, and viral late-night cameos. And just like Bad Bunny joked in his monologue, if you haven’t started brushing up on your foreign-language lyrics yet, you’ve got until the Super Bowl to catch up.

Because whether it’s Puerto Rico, Seoul, or Studio 8H, the future of pop is already multilingual — and very much alive.