Remember when Florida governor Ron DeSantis mocked a group of teens who dared to mask up during a global pandemic as they stood behind him on a stage? Saturday Night Live sure does.
The incident, which unfolded on March 2, was widely covered because… well, it was f*cking stupid. During a filmed event in public, this grown adult and elected leader stepped onto a stage and mocked responsible teens who chose to protect themselves and others from a public health risk. DeSantis fell effortlessly into the role of a bully as he pressured kids to do the wrong thing. Cool role model.
Weekend Update didn’t let DeSantis off the hook. After a string of jokes tied to Russia’s war on Ukraine — everything from the ineptitude of Russian leadership to puzzling U.S. responses — co-host Colin Jost turned the attention toward what happened in Florida. The best part of the joke is the photo they used, though.
As an image of DeSantis appears, Jost says he’s “seen here being told someone’s pronouns” and the live studio audience erupts into riotous laughter, claps and cheers that temporarily bring the sketch to a halt.
It was a truly bipartisan beatdown in the Weekend Update, with plenty of barbs also aimed at President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and misplaced shows of support for Ukraine in the U.S. more generally, but nothing got a bigger laugh than the DeSantis gag. Talk about inept leadership.
