Weekend Update tackled Russia’s fake news law, the country’s ban on car exports and Disney’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live.
“Russia has passed a fake news law that makes it illegal for any organization to report information that contradicts what the government says,” co-anchor Colin Jost said, “which explains the recent headline, ‘Six-foot-five Putin Not Insane.’”
After discussing President Biden’s refusal to step into World War III and the rising gas prices nationwide, Michael Che quipped, “Russia has responded to sanctions by banning the export of Russian-made cars, but a Russian-made car is just a drunk bear on roller skates.”
Outside of Russia, Weekend Update next focused on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Disney’s delayed response to the controversial measure. “The company took so long to condemn Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, although at Disney they actually don’t say ‘gay,’ they say ‘Timon and Pumbaa,’” Che said.
After Disney’s statement against the bill, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called Disney a “woke corporation.” “Disney denied the claim of wokeness with roughly 90 years of cartoons,” Jost joked, showing photos of racial stereotypes from throughout the company’s animated history.
Weekend Update also reported on news of the new federal law that would make lynching a hate crime punishable by 30 years in prison. “And they’re not messing around, you can get 150 days just for making one up,” Che said, referring to Jussie Smollett’s sentencing.
Later in Weekend Update, the duo touched on Queen Elizabeth’s move out of Buckingham Palace (“and this is weird, in with John Mayer,” Jost joked), this year’s Oscars presenters and International Women’s Day: