A debate is flaring over whether "Saturday Night Live" had political reasons for killing an opening skit parodying President Obama, reports the New York Post.

The sketch, which was performed in the dress rehearsal but cut for the live show last week, had Fred Armisen imitating Obama and making fun of his Osama bin Laden speech, the story says.

"This is a special time of year when we gather together with family and friends to commemorate the shooting of this terrorist, and the gutsy decision that made it possible," the Obama character said in the skit.

The conservative National Review speculated that the skit was killed because the show “feels a liberal taboo against mocking Obama in an election year," according to the story.

But "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels said that’s not the case, according to the article.

“It wasn’t its politics,” Michaels said. “[W]e were 27 minutes long” and something had to go, he said. "The show’s many things, but partisan it is not.”