The United States Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that it accidentally fired several agency employees working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak, over the weekend,

An Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are "working to swiftly rectify the situation."

In the key ad-sales demographic of adults 18-49, SNL50 scored a 2.53 rating across NBC and Peacock, equivalent to about 3.39 million people in that age range. That’s also a five-year high for the network in primetime, excluding sports.

NBC’s 50th anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live” hit a very strong 14.8 million viewers on average across NBC and Peacock on Sunday night. That number is 202% above the average number of viewers who have tuned into each regular episode of “SNL” throughout its 50th season,

Live” 50th anniversary celebration is NBC’s most-watched prime-time entertainment telecast in five years, reaching nearly 15 million viewers.