Woody Harrelson Hits Back at Backlash to His Covid-Themed SNL Monologue
Photo by Ron Adar / SOPA Images/Sipa USA
Actor Woody Harrelson revealed that the controversy behind his very pointed Saturday Night Live monologue on Covid-19 didn’t bother him.
The conversation was published in the latest cover story for Esquire where Harrelson, along with his co-star Justin Theroux, talked about their new HBO show, White House Plumbers, which follows the behind-the-scenes story of the Watergate scandal.
During the conversation, writer Madison Vain asked about Harrelson’s viral moment on Saturday Night Live, from when he hosted the show back in February. During Harrelson’s opening monologue, he joked about a movie script he had read.
“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,” Harrelson. “I threw the script away. I mean, who is going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day long.”
The clip went viral as many assumed, Harrelson, who had been outspoken about companies profiting from the Covid pandemic, aimed the “cartel” joke at pharmaceutical companies.
During the Esquire interview, Vain asked, “Woody, what’s your relationship to the Internet?”
“I don’t read it. It’s like when reviews come out for movies. I don’t look…” Harrelson replied.
“Does anything ever get back to you, Woody? Like after your SNL monologue this winter that stirred up a lot of controversy. Does that register with you at all?” Vain said.
“Well, people told me it was, shall we say, trending. No, I don’t look at that shit. I feel like, ‘I said it on SNL.’ I don’t need to go further with it… other than to say -— well, no, I won’t. Never mind. That’s enough. But it didn’t change my life one bit. Not one bit, if the mainstream media wants to have a go at you, right? My life is still wonderful,” Harrelson replied.
