Was very ill today, ended up watching a bunch of old SNLs on Peacock. Specific episodes like Steven Seagal (which they butchered, he's barely in the Peacock version) and Sandler's tribute to Farley.
Also watched the episode after 9/11, was amazed at how political parties seemed to be nonexistent with everyone coming together. They were like "hug your local cops and firefighters" and it was all just...kind of heartwarming, in spite of the horrible thing that had happened and the terrible effect it clearly had on them.
Then I jump forward almost 20 years to the first episode with live crowds returning "post-COVID" (which was like early 2021...ehh, pretty sure it hadn't gone anywhere but whatever). There was a similar vibe to the 9/11 episode with cast members on the verge of tears (though far moreso than 9/11) and expressing gratitude and so forth. Then the episode proceeded to be as divisive and partisan as humanly possible. They shit on cops, whined about The Insurrection, suggested "quarantining" all unvaxed Republicans by moving them to Florida so that they don't make the rest of us sick (vax preventing transmission was still an active lie I guess). As in cast members were vocally advocating forcefully uprooting people and sending them to the quarantine state.
"McConnell blocked an investigation of J6 because Republicans are desperately trying to bury their riots" was an actual phrase that came out of the Weekend Update guy's mouth. Riots plural? When was there a second one? Are these people aware that their side did over 800 violent riots in the previous year? Do those just not exist?
Then they ran a Pride Month music video where the whole cast was parading around in rainbowy outfits saying it's cool to be gay and all that, then a couple segments later they had a Lil Nas X performance where he was literally having a gay orgy in front of the gates of hell while statues of demons looked on. Not a religious or even socially conservative dude and even I was taken aback by how in-your-face it all was.
I know SNL has always been political, but this was something else. It was like a full-on propaganda movie. It's the first post-2017 SNL episode I've watched (besides the Sydney Sweeney one) and hoooooooooooooooooooooly fucking shit. Made me more ill than I already was.