Saturday Night LiveThe opening draft for February 6 parodied the Super Bowl pre-game show tradition and falsified corporations’ efforts to insert social and political comments into their commercials.
Kenan Thompson, playing CBS sports announcer James Brown, started a panel discussion with a summary of the main events of 2021: “This year was anything but normal. The pandemic, racial and political divisions, Armie Hammer. But today we come together in the spirit of unity to watch football and kill billions of chickens for their delicious wings. ”
Thompson’s Brown then attacked the NFL battle to keep the number of Covid-19 cases low among his players. “The league also handled a lot of Covid restrictions this year, but with a lot of work and vigilance, we managed to get through the season with just 700 cases. Long live us, ”he said.
“The NFL is incredibly careful and if you test positive, they will ask you to cover your mouth with a game chart,” joked Alex Moffat, playing against former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher.
Several experts say that the NFL actually did a pretty good job of keeping the community widespread in reality, tightening regulations after outbreaks among its teams earlier in the season, enforcing a strict masking policy and using sophisticated testing and contact tracking system to keep transmission rates low among thousands of employees.
After scoffing at the league, the sports announcer panel turned its attention to the Superbowl commercials, first highlighting the brands’ often heavy efforts to promote a product and a “social conscience” message.
A commercial piece with montage of prominent black civil rights heroes, icons of social justice and images by Black Lives Matter ends with the narrator saying: “We must always fight for equality and always look for Cheez-its.”
“Woo! Wow. Truly inspiring, ”observed Mikey Day, playing cohost and ex-quarterback Phil Simms.
“What the hell?” exclaimed Chris Redd in the role of cohost and ex-wide receiver Nate Burleson.
The hosts then watched an ad aimed at “balancing” more progressive ads, a commercial for Papa John’s that satirized the brand’s alternative law support and the use of racist language by its founder by incorporating a gesture of white supremacy, as well as several messages meant to win the business of QAnon fans, such as promising that the pizza does not contain “additives, preservatives, or child sex trafficking in the basement”.
QAnon, of course, falsely postulates that there is a global network of child sex trafficking controlled by cannibal Democratic pedophiles. And at that point, the commercial’s voice continues: “Sorry, Democrats, you’re going to order sex pizza for your son at Hillary’s Pizzeria,” in a reference to the 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
To end the discussion, sports announcers took turns to make predictions.
“I anticipate that, at the end of the game, Covid will address the Florida audience and thank them for an incredible opportunity,” said Cowher de Moffat.
The Tampa Bay stadium, where the Super Bowl will be held, will be about a third of its capacity – but bars across the state will be open, leading to warnings from federal health officials to stay home to avoid coronavirus infection.