‘SNL’ blasted for ‘absolutely disgusting’ jokes on ‘Weekend Update’ in relation to fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO

“Saturday Night Live” took a beating for “absolutely disgusting” jokes — as one commenter put it — on its latest “Weekend Update” segment in relation to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.

“Weekend Update” led its segment Saturday with jokes in connection with the fatal shooting in Manhattan.

‘Disgusting. I couldn’t watch this segment. The victim’s family and friends are very much grieving right now.’

“This week, New York City officials sent a tough message on crime: ‘If you shoot somebody in the middle of the street, you better get on your bike, hop on a bus, and get the heck out of here, mister,’” co-host Colin Jost quipped to begin the segment — to quite a bit of laughter.

Jost continued: “The manhunt continues for the assassin who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on Wednesday, and it really says something about America that a guy was murdered in cold blood and the two main reactions were, ‘Yeah, well, health care stinks!’ And also, ‘Girl, that shooter hot.’”

Jost added with an incredulous giggle that the suspect “just bicycled away” after the shooting: “Probably because they have every cop in the city guarding our Christmas tree.” The Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Plaza took place hours after the shooting.

“The NYPD now believes the suspect left the city on a bus from Port Authority,” Jost also said. “Uh, thanks, but a Port Authority passenger who looks like a murderer actually widens the search.”

With that, Michael Che took over and said, “New York City police say that they were able to get the smiling picture of the suspect after the man apparently was caught on camera at a local hostel flirting with a female employee, whose name has been reported as, ‘Lucky S. Bechalive.'”

Despite the consistent laughter the co-hosts’ jokes elicited, a number of other folks didn’t take kindly to their humor.

“Disgusting. I couldn’t watch this segment. The victim’s family and friends are very much grieving right now,” one observer wrote beneath a YouTube video of the segment, according to the New York Post.

“Agreed,” another commenter responded, the Post noted. “I don’t usually watch SNL, and I can see by the segment and comments supporting it that I will no longer be watching it. Joking about someone’s murder like that is absolutely disgusting… a family is grieving right now.”

The paper added that a X user wrote, “Classless.”

You can view the “Weekend Update” segment here.

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