Brad Pitt made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, fact-checking President Trump's coronavirus claims as he played Dr. Anthony Fauci. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought the United States to a standstill, has forced President Trump to give daily press briefings. Until recently, Trump often appeared alongside Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during these public addresses.
Trump's press briefings have devolved into something quite strange, as was demonstrated when President Trump appeared to be suggesting people should consider injecting themselves with household disinfectant in order to cure coronavirus. The President's comments prompted official statements from manufacturers that their products are not for consumption or injection. With truth becoming infinitely stranger than fiction, the President retracted his suggestion, and claimed he was being sarcastic.
Brad Pitt used a Saturday Night Live sketch on the April 25th episode to fact-check the president's claims. Pitt is hardly a regular on comedy shows, but this is the second time he's appeared in a sketch since the pandemic began; clearly the actor is doing his best to help the country get through the pandemic with its sense of humor intact. Even more amusingly, Pitt plays Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has become something of a household name in America. Fauci once joked he'd love to see himself played by Brad Pitt — but he undoubtedly wouldn't have envisioned anything like this scenario.
Political satire serves an essential purpose in times like this. It is essentially a coping mechanism, helping people deal with a world that feels out of control, and puncturing the ridiculous nature of reality with humor. Brad Pitt's sketch fulfills this role perfectly; it makes viewers laugh and wince at the same time, recognizing the comedy of the President's statements but also highlighting just how strange some of them are. Pitt fact-checks the following:
- Vaccines will be developed "relatively soon." Pitt suggests this term should be understood as quite fluid, because in geological time a vaccine definitely be developed "relatively soon." However, he points out that if someone told a friend they'd be dropping round "relatively soon" and then only turned up a year and a half later, they'd be "relatively p***** off."
- Trump had claimed the vaccine will one day disappear "like a miracle." Pitt suggests a miracle shouldn't be Plan A.
- "Anybody that needs a test gets a test," the President insisted, a statement that seems rather at odds with reality. "When he said everyone can get a test," Pitt mock-clarifies, "what he meant was, almost no-one."
- Trump had suggested scientists still don't know what COVID-19 really is, suggesting it could be called a germ, a flu, whatever one wants, really. Pitt responds quite simply; "We know what it is."
- The sketch culminates with the President's statements about treating the virus with UV light or injections of disinfectant. There, Pitt's response is absolutely hilarious; his Dr. Fauci holds his head in his hand.
Pitt ends the sketch by addressing growing rumors that Dr. Fauci is about to be fired, suggesting he suspects it's only a matter of time. Fauci has been notably absent from the latest briefings, with reports this is because he was felt to not be on the same page as Trump. Suffice to say, Brad Pitt's Fauci definitely isn't on the same page either.