Woody Harrelson hosted Saturday Night Live and during his opening monologue described a movie pitch that resembled events of the Covid pandemic, prompting some on Twitter to say the actor was spreading “anti-vax propaganda” and pushing “hostility to Covid vaccines.”
“Okay, so the movie goes like this,” Harrelson said. “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.”
So I guess I just figured out why Woody Harrelson is trending…
His Saturday Night Live monologue describes a movie script he tossed away. It might sound familiar: pic.twitter.com/NMmPaKa61J
— 🚨 Katherine Brodsky (@mysteriouskat) February 26, 2023
He added, “I threw the script away. I mean, who was gonna believe that crazy ideat?”
The pop culture outlet Pop Base tweeted that the actor was spreading “anti-vax propaganda during his opening monologue.”
Author Steven Beschloss said, “So Woody Harrelson uses his SNL monologue to push his hostility to Covid vaccines? Really?”
KanekoaTheGreat collected screenshots of outlets such as Rolling Stone, Variety, and the Daily Beast all publishing similar headlines saying Harrelson was pushing “Anti-Vax Conspiracies.”
As a coronavirus, later named Covid-19, began to spread into the US in early March 2020, many American states started shutting down businesses and establishments such as schools and churches. While the initial idea that was floated by those in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health officials on local levels was that communities and health care infrastructure needed “two weeks to stop the spread,” measures quickly escalated and extended.
Under Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, pharmaceutical companies researched and made vaccines. Pfizer, which was not part of the project, and Moderna, which was, both came up with mRNA vaccines. Both companies were given emergency use authorizations for the drug, and when Biden came into office in early 2021, his administration pressed these on the American people. Many of the country’s biggest cities implemented vaccine mandates, requiring businesses to check the vaccination status patrons before allowing them entry. This was true of many schools, as well.
Bridget Phetasy said of Harrelson, “People don’t seem to understand, Woody Harrelson is what liberals used to be.”
“Woody got super high and went after big pharma and people are losing their shit and it’s hilarious,” she added.
Elon Musk said the monologue was “based.”