Woody Harrelson worked a thinly-veiled joke about Big Pharma and the COVID response into his opening SNL monologue and was immediately met with accusations of peddling antivaxxer conspiracy.
Harrelson joked about smoking weed and drinking alcohol. Then he joked about not drinking alcohol … before drinking alcohol again. Then he joked about smoking more weed. Then he described himself as a vegan, Marxist, anarchist, Texan, and more … before joking about smoking weed again.
All of this was leading up to his punchline of a theoretical movies script he read in 2019 that was so patently absurd that he threw it away:
‘The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes, and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs — and keep taking them — over and over.’
Woody Harrelson spreads Covid conspiracy theories during SNL monologue: "The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes…" https://t.co/QxCZSxLSvE
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 26, 2023
Up until that point, Harrelson was receiving the standard fare of laughter in response to his self-deprecating jokes. Not uproarious laughter, by any means, but the crowd seemed to be enjoying his antics.
The Big Pharma COVID response lampoon feel flat. We’re not sure if people just didn’t find it very funny, or if they’ve been so conditioned that it’s a grievous sin to stray from approved COVID narrative that they were scared to respond at all.
And that was funny to us.
It’s okay to laugh about substance abuse and Harrelson’s manager illegally smuggling blunts from LA to NYC, but a joke about the COVID response? That was too much for this audience. LOL.
Here’s the full monologue.
Woody Harrelson's monologue! pic.twitter.com/FAEcBDnIKu
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 26, 2023
As with all things related to COVID, the reaction was mixed.
Good one
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2023
Some saw Woody exposing the reality of the COVID conspiracy.
What on earth was this antivax nonsense
— Nick Brennan (@nfbrennan) February 26, 2023
Others saw Harrelson as a wild-eyed antivax conspiracy nut.
COVID reality has likely always fallen somewhere in between the dug-in COVID camps. All we really had to do was agree, in good faith, that everyone wanted people to be safe, but there was great uncertainty about appropriate solutions given that none of us had ever experienced a worldwide pandemic of this magnitude before. Unfortunately, ‘In this Together’ lasted about 5 minutes.
Woody Harrelson blasphemed COVID doctrine, and somehow the lefties at the SNL safe space didn’t see it coming.
What exactly did they think they were getting with him hosting? https://t.co/EBNO2JrhMy
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 26, 2023
Yes, generally, supporters of the COVID response are heavily weighted to the Left while detractors are on the Right, but it’s not that simple.
Rolling Stone's editorial policy that actors and musicians, the most creative deviants in our culture, must also follow liberal media polite progressive dogma, certainly is an editorial choice. https://t.co/qEgU51hJ2F
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 26, 2023
Everyone is expected to toe the official line when it comes to COVID.
The best part of this is that no one was “misinformed” because the only audience left is lockstep progressives, who all just sprinted to their fainting couches.
— John 'pro-norms' Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) February 26, 2023
The audience stragglers at SNL who were weaned on humorless Kate McKinnon cold opens probably didn’t know how to process this one. LOL.
He's like a 60 year old pot dealing hippie and a former punk rock music magazine is like "how dare you sir" pic.twitter.com/b2QU7qD39A
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 26, 2023
We’re not gonna lie, the last few years have been really tough on us Gen-Xers. Most of our rebels turned out to be … not.
Get ready for the meltdowns…
SNL host Woody Harrelson calls out Big Pharma over COVID and the vax pic.twitter.com/dIdlBahwda
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 26, 2023
Oh, it was FAST. LOL!
Woody Harrelson: "The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media…"
Media: pic.twitter.com/6qGOLpr6AQ
— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 26, 2023
Look at them go! Maybe Woody has a point about the media …
People don't seem to understand, Woody Harrelson is what liberals used to be.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 26, 2023
His delivery isn't great but he's probably drunk and definitely high and personally I thought his jab (see what I did there) at the mandatory vax and lockdowns was hilarious.https://t.co/FuazOHw8ZI
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 26, 2023
We never thought we’d miss the old liberals, but that’s where we find ourselves.
rofl they’re already trying to cancel Woody Harrelson
He’s too stoned to care
— Sparkles & Sirius 🙋🏻♀️🐶 (@Imaginary_Echo) February 26, 2023
Will ‘they’ decide Woody has to pay for his transgressions? Stay tuned.
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