Woody Harrelson bashes Covid-19 vaccine mandates in SNL monologue
New York, New York - Woody Harrelson has reignited anti-vaccine conspiracy debates with a bizarre joke in his Saturday Night Live monologue.
The 61-year-old opened his fifth hosting stint on the sketch show with a monologue describing a "movie script" he read.
Joking that his memory of the script was likely warped from smoking marijuana, Harrelson began detailing what the supposed plot included.
"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 if they take the cartel's drugs and keep taking them over and over," he said.
The Hunger Games star then joked that the script was too unrealistic.
"I threw the script away – I mean, who was going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day long," Harrelson continued.
The clear jab at the Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccines was met with an awkward silence in the studio and soon sparked backlash online.
Woody Harrelson's anti-vaccine monologue sparks backlash
Harrelson's monologue was praised by many Covid-19 conspiracy theorists who claimed the comments perfectly called out the "scam" of the pandemic.
Others argued that the joke was deeply insensitive, considering the devastating toll of the pandemic.
"I just read Woody Harrelson's monologue. I guess I'm not a good sport, anymore because I don't find anti-vax jokes funny while we lost a good chunk of America due to stupid people spreading it to others," one user tweeted.
As the heated debate raged on between pro- and anti-vaxxers, many began to wonder whether the comments had been approved before the episode.
After the official SNL page shared the monologue in full, many concluded it wasn't an unapproved addition after all.
"I am shocked that Saturday Night Live did not cut out of this, let alone the fact that they tweeted it," one user said.
Cover photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP