Category: Worldwide
Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign

Before the first “at home” episode of SNL, Dr. Anthony Fauci joked that if he could have anyone play him on the sketch series, it would be Brad Pitt. No offense to the the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, but… nah. Still, considering how much stress he’s been under, the guy deserved a little ego boost, and during tonight’s SNL, he got his wish In the cold open, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Oscar winner portrayed Fauci, whose message to the American public was interspersed with footage of President Donald Trump speaking about COVID-19.
When Trump said a vaccine would be available “relatively soon,” Pitt as Fauci responded, “Relative to the entire history of Earth, sure, the vaccine’s going to come real fast. But if you were to tell a friend, ‘I’ll be over relatively soon’ and then showed up a year and a half later, well, your friend may be relatively pissed off.” After touching his face in response to another baffling claim from the president (“I know I shouldn’t… but…”), Pitt removed his wig and got serious. “To the real Dr. Fauci, thank you for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time,” he said. “And thank you to the medical workers, first responders, and their families for being on the frontline.”
Watch it below.
And now, a message from Dr. Anthony Fauci. #SNLAtHome pic.twitter.com/LYemNAWaAT
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 26, 2020
SNL returned with a second quarantine edition that did not disappoint. First, they had Brad Pitt as Anthony Fauci (dreams do come true!), and then Adam Sandler made his grand return in a musical number led by Pete Davidson. Oh, there was some Rob Schneider in the mix, too, uttering his famous line from The Waterboy: “You can do it!”
Sorry, Schneider, you’re outta luck here, despite all presumably good intentions. This episode does not shy away from how Davidson and Sandler are feeling the same way that a lot of folks do… a little stir-“crazy” during self-isolation? That’s perfectly understandable, and no one can blame anyone for not answering the door, even if Schneider comes knocking because, after all, social distancing is where it’s at right now.
Still, it’s to Sandler’s credit that he’s been so proactive in amusing folks over these past few weeks. He’s already loopily hit up Conan O’Brien with wild stories, and he’s issued a special song for heroes (the real ones), and now, he’s doing everything he can to entertain people on a Saturday evening. Props also to Davidson, and even Schneider, for giving us laughs during difficult times. Thank goodness for SNL, man.

This Saturday night will not feature a new episode of Saturday Night Live, but one of its most notable bits did get a bit of action this weekend. Alec Baldwin, who the sketch show relies upon for his impression of Donald Trump for its many political sketches, has been a mainstay as a non castmember over the last three years.
Despite calling his impression mediocre and once saying he’d rather be dead that return as Trump, he’s continued to play America’s president for various sketches through the current season. Baldwin even appeared via phone during the SNL At Home episode the show did amid the coronavirus lockdown.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that Baldwin has dusted off his impression during an SNL-less week to poke fun at Trump after some dangerous and even deadly advice about coronavirus cleaning methods. In a three-minute video posted to Instagram, Baldwin pretended to be Trump talking about the fallout from his
Baldwin’s Trump started with what he said in real life on Friday: that he was kidding when he openly wondered if cleaning supplies could be put inside the human body to cure coronavirus.
“I was of course being facetious,” Baldwin says as Trump, referring to his extremely dangerous medical advice. “I wasn’t suggesting you take Lysol and shoot it into your veins… or squirt it on some washcloth and huff it yourself… or that you snort it. Which a lot of young people are into, I’m told.”
From there, things of course spiral out of control. And though the Trump wig and other makeup isn’t there, if you’re a fan of Baldwin’s impression you’ll enjoy the rather disturbing direction the video goes in. At the very least, it’s good that Baldwin is staying busy while practicing good social distancing.
Including a wine filter if a glass of red gives you a headache and a $2 cat toy your kitty will love more than the box it comes in.

Most of the sports world has been put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a lot of Chicago-based sports are happening this weekend. The Chicago Huntsmen are in action in the Call of Duty League, and the basketball world is eagerly awaiting Sunday night’s next two episodes of the 10-part Michael Jordan series entitled The Last Dance.
The docuseries is basically the only basketball happening right now, which is why there have been a lot of Last Dance tie-ins and references throughout the sports world. And the latest involves the Huntsmen, one of the top teams in Call of Duty League currently “hosting” the online-only tournament between teams this weekend.
The weekend tournament coincided with the launch of limited edition No. 23 merchandise on the ULT website. The merchandise is essentially Huntsmen-branded gear with Jordan’s number 23 on it, coming in two colors — black and white. According to Call of Duty League the merchandise will go on sale on Sunday, the day of the weekend tournament’s final matches as well as the second night ESPN will air episodes of The Last Dance.
It’s a cool mashup of two Chicago sports entities, especially one hoping to be as dominant in Call of Duty League as the Jordan Bulls were on the court. We’ll see how Chicago does hosting the tournament’s finale, but the rave reviews The Last Dance has gotten means Chicago sports fans will definitely be happy on Sunday.

Some NBA players are struggling to get shots up during quarantine. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jayson Tatum have all mentioned that they do not have hoops at their homes, and as such, there are limitations to what guys can do while they’re stuck in one place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The league has decided to comply with state and federal guidelines by shutting down practice facilities, again limiting options for players. But according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA is going to open its facilities back up under a very specific set of circumstances.
As Wojnarowski tells it, as long as states relax stay-at-home orders, NBA teams are allowed to open up their facilities to players. This would only be for voluntary individual workouts, however, while larger workouts are still prohibited.
Beginning on May 1, the NBA is allowing teams to open their practice facilities to players in cities and states where local governments have eased stay-at-home orders, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 25, 2020
Sources: Teams will be allowed to make facilities open to players on a voluntary basis for individual work, but larger group workouts will still be prohibited. In NBA markets that aren’t loosening restrictions, league plans to work w/ teams on other arrangements for players. https://t.co/yZSKsXedW1
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 25, 2020
A major reason for this decision is reportedly what is going down in Georgia. The state’s governor, Brian Kemp, controversially gave the green light to opening up things like gyms. NBA players apparently asked their orgs what to do in this situation, and Wojnarowski reports, teams would rather that players are in their gyms and not a YMCA somewhere getting shots up.
As Georgia moves toward opening certain businesses — including gymasiums — some players were asking their teams if they should consider traveling there to find a way to play. Organizations wants players in safe/clean team environments, not a fitness center in suburban Atlanta.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 25, 2020
Naturally, this leads to a question about whether or not the league will start to move toward restarting its season. The answer: no.
NBA’s decision on opening practice facilities to players in markets where governments may be loosening stay-at-home orders doesn’t mean a resumption of season is imminent. The NBA is still unsure on if/when it can play again. But getting players safely into gyms was a priority.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 25, 2020
There’s no good answer in this situation — it is assuredly far too early for this move, but considering the alternative is players going to environments that teams cannot control, this is the league’s attempt at making the best of a bad situation. Hopefully things don’t come to this and states listen to scientists and medical professionals about when doing this sort of thing will be safe, but if it does, here’s to hoping players taking advantage of this — along with the workers necessary to keep these facilities clean — are able to stay healthy.