Viewers React to ControversialSNLWeekend Update Jokes About UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination

Mar. 15, 2025

Colin Jost (left) and Michael Che on Dec. 7, 2024.Photo:Will Heath/NBC via Getty

Will Heath/NBC via Getty

Saturday Night Live’s latest Weekend Update segment included several jokes about the public perception of theshootingofUnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson— and viewers had mixed reactions.

On the Dec. 7 episode of the NBC sketch comedy show — which featured actorPaul Mescal as hostandcountry singer Shaboozeyas musical guest — Weekend Update hostsColin JostandMichael Chemade a few jokes about the circumstances surrounding Thompson’s Dec. 4 death, including the NYPD’s search for the still-unknown shooter and the public’s reaction to the case.

“This week, New York City officials sent a tough message on crime,” Jost, 42, began the segment, taking aim at the NYPD’s investigation, which has not yet yielded a suspect. " ‘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.’ "

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

Jost also referenced the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, which took place on Dec. 4, saying: “It’s also so crazy that the shooting happened three blocks from here in broad daylight, and the guy just bicycled away. Probably because they have every cop in the city guarding our Christmas tree.”

Che, 41, chimed in with a joke about a photo of the suspect taken from a security camera at a local hostel, in which he was smiling because he wasallegedly flirting with a staffer.“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,' " Che said.

Several outlets have reported in the days since the shooting that the public has responded to Thompson’s death with bitterness about the U.S. healthcare system at large. A report fromCNNquoted many TikTok users who shared stories about their poor experiences with UnitedHealthcare and even made jokes about the shooting, such as one person who wrote: “Sorry United, my thoughts and prayers were denied, just like my son’s medication.”

Brian Thompson, late CEO of UnitedHealthcare.UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group

Some people, however, expressed their disappointment over theSNLsegment, with one commenter writing on X: “Look… I’m all for laughs, but this was in seriously poor taste. @nbc Your network owes the family an apology. That was a pretty odious thing to do.”

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“Making light of someone being murdered is in poor taste,” another user wrote.

Thompson, 50, was shot and killed before 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The masked gunman was“lying in wait”outside the building, according toNYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

NBC Newspreviously reported that NYPD detectives are working to establish whether the words found on bullet casings recovered at the scene — “deny,” “defend” and “depose” — were meant as a message from the shooting suspect and a hint as to his motive. The words are often used when referring to the insurance industry to describe a strategy of rejecting claims.

Thompson was in N.Y.C. for an investors' conference taking place at the hotel, NYPD officials said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Police have saidthe partially-masked suspect fled towards Central Park on an electric Citi Bike after firing at least three shots at the healthcare executive and hitting him from behind in the back and leg. NYPD officials confirmed that Thompson was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

source: people.com