During its cold open, SNL tackled the devoted fan base that believed United HealthCare CEO assassin, Luigi Mangione, has garnered since his recent arrest at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s. The sketch was met with a mixed response from viewers.
SNL portrayed a scene where Sarah Sherman embodied a particularly harsh and exaggerated version of Nancy Grace, mocking the well-known true crime commentator’s show, Crime Stories.
In the skit, Sherman, playing Gracys, starts off by exclaiming in a Southern accent, ‘The masked CEO shooter has been unmasked and guess what? It’s game over, Luigi,’
‘And of course, everyone online celebrated the hard work of law enforcement in apprehending this dangerous criminal,’ she continues – before quickly shifting gears. ‘Just kidding, y’all suckas made him a sex symbol.’
Sherman’s Grace proceeds to lampoon the American public for their fascination – seen on social media since Mangione’s mugshot was revealed to the public.
‘That’s right, the healthcare assassin Luigi Mangione has got women and gay guys alike hot and bothered,’ Sherman continued, creating a cartoonish version of Grace honed in on her Georgia roots that some disapproved of.
‘I mean, seriously? This guy looks like Dave Franco with Eugene Levy’s eyebrows. I mean, what is going on in this country?
‘Y’all, this man is not a sex icon, OK? This man is, and I cannot say this any clearer – a MURDERER!’ The last word, thanks to some stereotypical Southern drawl, is effectively indecipherable.
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SNL’s cold open this week featured Sarah Sherman as an especially unforgiving Nancy Grace, reporting on suspected United Healthcare assassin Luigi Mangione
Mangione, 26, was arrested Monday in Eastern Pennsylvania after a staffer spotted him in a local McDonald’s. The show poked fun on the positive attention he’s received since – whether it be for his perceived motive or good looks
The court of public opinion seen on X, formerly Twitter, afterwards was somewhat split.
‘Didn’t care for the impression, to[sic] over the top for me,’ wrote one X user of their disapproval. ‘Trying a little to hard.’
‘Sarah Sherman does a really good Nancy Grace,’ said someone else, tickled by what could be a new recurring character from the cast.
Another gushed: ‘Sarah Sherman is a STAR.’
Veteran cast member Kenan Thompson also joined in, appearing later on in as a man in the now infamous Altoona McDonald’s where the alleged killer was caught.
Sherman’s Grace proceeds to ask Thompson’s character: ‘Can you believe people were attracted to this sexy slayer?’ To which Thompson replies, ‘Women love bad boys.’
The Good Burger star goes on to reference the alleged manifesto said to have been seized off the suspect’s person: ‘Back in the day, you could impress women with a little poem. Now you have to write a manifesto.’
The handwritten document reportedly contained lines critical of the US health care industry, including ‘These parasites had it coming. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.’
Veteran cast member Kenan Thompson also joined in, appearing later on in as a man in the now infamous Altoona McDonald’s where the alleged killer was caught
The court of public opinion seen on X, formerly Twitter, afterwards was somewhat split
Sporting a stereotypical Southern drawl, Sherman went to town on Grace’s Crime Stories while using it as a lens to look at the strange reception the suspected killer is receiving
Some praised Sherman’s Grace, along with the fact the show appeared to making fun of those talking up the alleged killer in recent days
He was picked up at this McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania following a tip from an employee
The greater, grimmer connotations of that joke and others was not lost on some onlookers, one of whom tweeted: ‘SNL glorifying cold-blooded murder. Gross. PS: not hot.’
Another slammed the skit simply as ‘flat’, while another said it was just straight-up ‘not good.’
Someone else – seemingly not won over by the comedy but glad it was embraced the internet’s recent fervor with the alleged killer – conceded: ‘At least you didn’t praise the guy’.
Meanwhile, the skit framed as a segment on Grace’s long-running show Crime Stories did not stop there.
It continued with Grace’s final guest – a ‘guy who looks like Luigi Mangione’ – played by cast member Emil Wakim, whom many online had predicted would assume the likeness of the suspect.
Showrunners appeared to shy away from going that far, while still giving Wakim the time to get in on the action – thanks to his startling resemblance to the alleged assasin.
‘This whole thing’s been a roller coaster for me,” Wakim’s Mangione lookalike – itself a gibe on a fan-held event held in New York after the murder – tells Grace
‘ On one hand, I keep getting tackled by bounty hunters – but on the other hand, I’ve gotten some of the horniest DMs of my life.
It continued with Grace’s final guest – a ‘guy who looks like Luigi Mangione’ – played by cast member Emil Wakim, whom many online had predicted would play the suspect. Showrunners appeared to shy away from going that far, while still giving Wakim time to shine
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday, after patrons and staff claimed they recognized him from the NYPD images
Footage captured the moment a masked gunman believed to be Mangione gunning down Briand Thompson on December 4
‘I mean, I haven’t paid for a meal in Brooklyn in days,’ he jokes – as the skit also mocked True Crime YouTubers like Grace with an ad that abruptly played midsentence.
Onlookers online, not swayed by the tongue and cheek delivery, tore into showrunners for joking about the murder of 50-year-old Brian Thompson – not to mention his suspected assassin.
‘Normalizing the felon will never be funny,’ wrote one viewer, remaking positively about Chris Rock’s return to the show as host before showing overall disapproval.
‘Please tell me why this is comedy? Murder is supposed to be funny?’ another asked aloud.
‘Emil as Luigi lookalike was everything,’ added someone who approved of the skit. Sniped another: ‘SNL is so over. This was whack.’
Rock, meanwhile, also mentioned the high-profile murder during his monologue, before Jost brought it up again during the Weekend Update.
‘We got Luigi. You know, and that’s good,’ Rock told the live audience toward the beginning of his spiel. ‘I really feel sorry for the family. Everybody’s fixated on how good-looking this guy looks.’
‘If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already — he’d be dead.’
Prodigal Chris Rock also mentioned the high-profile murder during his monologue – drawing gasps from some in the studio audience
Rock continued, ‘But he actually killed a man — a man with a family, a man with kids. I have condolences. I have real condolences for healthcare CEO. This is a real person, you know?’
The star added, ‘But you also got to go, “You know, sometimes drug dealers get shot.”‘
After a few immediate gasps from the audience, the crowd began to applaud and let out laughs following the savage joke.
Mangione, meanwhile, is currently being held in Pennsylvania, and is awaiting extradition.
