“Saturday Night Live” has returned for a new year, mocking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), The launch of the coronavirus vaccine and a Wall Street crisis during the show’s debut.
In a skit titled “What still works,” actress and comedian Kate McKinnon hosted a mock talk show with a series of other cast members falsifying various figures in the news in recent weeks.
Among them was Greene.
“Thanks for having me,” comedian Cecily Strong, playing Greene, told McKinnon, immediately offering her a gun.
McKinnon then asks about some of the conspiracy theories she promoted on social media before she was elected to Congress in November.
Greene de Strong recites a list of false allegations about the 2018 shooting at Parkland School and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, asking, “Has anyone really seen this happen?”
McKinnon, apparently concerned and perplexed, asks, “Are you a representative of the USA?” and pressures her on what her colleagues on Capitol Hill did in response to her statements.
“They promoted me to the Education Committee,” says Greene de Strong.
“So the government doesn’t work,” says McKinnon.
The other cast member, Pete Davidson, joins McKinnon next, in the role of a man identified as the “majority shareholder of GameStop”.
“Uhhh, we sell games,” said a seemingly oblivious Davidson. “People download all your games now, so we are what you would call ..”
“A business dying?” McKinnon asks. “So now it looks like …”
“Is the whole system a joke?” Davidson says.
A run on GameStop shares last week by armchair investors organized on the Internet prompted the company’s Wall Street value to skyrocket before Robinhood’s stock trading app suspended trading at the company, a move that was met with a bipartisan reaction.
Longtime cast member Keenan Thompson also appeared during the show’s first cold debut in his new year, playing the role of OJ Simpson and wearing an ankle tracking device while bragging about having received the coronavirus vaccine.
“So, among the top 3 percent of all Americans who received the vaccine was OJ Simpson?” McKinnon asks.
“Guilty about the charge … about the vaccine,” Simpson replies.
“Okay, so the vaccine launch doesn’t work,” she said.