“Saturday Night Live” closed out its recurring “Weekend Update” sketch on Saturday with an interview of a character named “Goober The Clown Who Had An Abortion When She Was 23.” If it sounds contrived, preachy, and not funny, that’s because it was all those things, but you wouldn’t know it from coverage by the corporate media, who are pretending they just watched the next iconic “More Cowbell” sketch.
Goober the Clown, played by Cecily Strong, didn’t deliver a single joke, but she did spout off a list of pro-abortion talking points. “One in three clowns will have an abortion in her lifetime,” Strong explained before expressing frustration with the stigma around inflicting violence in the womb.
CNN’s Brian Stelter summarized the glowing praise of the sketch and added his own compliments, explaining it was so “punchy and provocative,” he had to lead off his media newsletter with a round-up of fawning coverage. “An instant classic,” wrote Decider. “Genius” and “effective political commentary,” wrote Vanity Fair.
CNN’s @brianstelter thinks an SNL skit featuring a clown sermonizing on the glories of abortion is an “instant classic” pic.twitter.com/Y6fNa5XfYH
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 8, 2021
As far as late-night comedy goes, the sketch itself is not the least bit surprising as it’s perfectly in line with what counts as “comedy” these days. And the problem with Stelter’s reaction is not even the idiocy of praising a political screed that has the backing of every major entertainment institution as “provocative.” If your political stance is applauded by corporate media outlets like CNN and Vanity Fair, it’s probably not provocative — just ask Dave Chappelle.
The more discrediting issue here is that Stelter, the self-proclaimed media guru, didn’t stop to ask how such an overt and pointed screed ended up on “SNL,” or to ask who, in particular, wanted its placement there. As someone intimately familiar with how media and politics work, shouldn’t Stelter know that Planned Parenthood has openly bragged about its desire and ability to embed pro-abortion messaging in both film and television?
It’s not a secret campaign. Planned Parenthood’s director of public engagement, Alencia Johnson, explained to Yes! Magazine how the abortion giant works with directors, writers, producers, and publicists to “normalize sexual and reproductive health.”
“The arts are a way to shift policy, mainly because we’re shifting culture. Over 50 percent of people actually believe that the health care information they see on TV and film is accurate,” Johnson said. “Therefore, we need to make sure that abortion storylines — storylines about sexuality, love, relationships, birth control, whatever it may be — related to gender and reproductive rights are accurate.”
By “accurate” storylines, they mean storylines that hide and downplay what abortion really means for both women and unborn babies.
When asked by The Federalist whether they communicated at all about the sketch, neither Planned Parenthood nor NBC replied.
But the fact remains that either Stelter (and other media critics who fawned over Goober) did know about Planned Parenthood’s past activism in film and television, and chose to ignore it as that would put a damper on his coverage of a “buzzworthy moment,” or he had no idea and has once again shown his enormous blindspots as a media critic and analyst to be wholly disqualifying.
This is not just glowing coverage of a leftist saying things they agree with, although it is that too. What we potentially have here is corporate press gaslighting viewers into believing Planned Parenthood’s literal talking points are now an SNL “instant classic.” That’s how corrupt corporate media works.
