During his fourth time as Saturday Night Live (SNL) host, comedian Chris Rock made a joke about the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in his monologue.
Last night (December 14) Rock opened his monologue by speaking about Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect charged with Thompson’s killing. “Everybody’s fixated on how good-looking this guy looks,” Rock said. “If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already.”
He continued: “But he actually killed a man, a man! A man with a family, a man with kids… I have real condolences for the Healthcare CEO…but you also gotta know, sometimes drug dealers get shot.”
Also in the monologue, Rock made jabs at Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Jake Paul. He joked: “Who is this Jake Paul? This 27-year-old punching a 60-year-old in the face. Is this what the white man has reduced himself to? Stop it! Who’s he going to fight next, Morgan Freeman? I hate Jake Paul. I got landlord hate for him.”
Rock also made a dig at Trump’s deportation policy, saying: “Menendez brothers are getting out of jail — just in time to get deported. Trump is going to deport their ass, you murdering Mexicans!”
The attention was then turned to Elon Musk, who Rock called the “richest African American in the world.”
“That’s right. He is African American,” said Rock. “Elon’s got more kids than the Cleveland Browns. That’s right. Nobody knows how to get rid of people like a South African.”
Watch the full monologue below:
Rock was a cast member on SNL between 1990 and 1993. He returned to the show as host in 1996, 2014 and 2020 – before making his fourth appearance as host last night.
The comedian was joined by musical guest Gracie Abrams, who performed ‘That’s So True’ and ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ for her SNL debut.
Performing in front of a fireplace and a candlelit set, Abrams sang ‘That’s So True’, a live favourite from the ‘Secret of Us’ tour that she included in the album’s deluxe version in October.
She recently teased there is also a “very vulgar” version of the hit song, although it “will never see the light of day”. She also performed ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’, taken from the June version of the record.
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