NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” mocked the controversy over New Jersey’s Ebola quarantine with unflattering depictions of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) and nurse Kaci Hickox.
Christie responds to Hickox’s criticisms by telling the interviewer, Megyn Kelly, to “shut the hell up,” adding “she [Hickox] got a tent in a parking lot with her own port-a-potty, in New Jersey that’s called a luxury condo. Ms. Hickox had access to the internet and some of the best takeout food in Newark.” And “my only job is to protect the people of New Jersey. And believe me, they need protection. Their immune systems are already under attack from tattoo infections, and tainted well vodkas, and jet fumes. By which I mean, the stench of the New York Jets.”
SNL also made fun of Christie’s friendliness with President Obama, as his character says “come on, that’s a bunch of malarkey. Our policy has not changed. If you present symptoms, you will be quarantined, but if I then get a call from president Barack Obama, the man who visited me for almost three hours during the worst of Hurricane Sandy, and stood with me on that beach, windbreaker to windbreaker, as we pointed to houses and said, ‘woo! Look at that one!’ How do you say no to a man like that?” All while tearing up, when asked whether the president pressured him into reversing the state’s quarantine policy.
Hickox was not spared SNL’s ridicule, as her character says “I don’t care if I have Ebola, I’m riding my damn bike,” and that ever since she left quarantine, she’s been doing “whatever I feel like. I took a dip in a public pool. I volunteered at a kissing booth. For Halloween I handed out about 1,000 loose M&Ms with my bare hands.” And then argues “many people are intimidated by a smart, strong woman who has lost her mind.”
At the end of the sketch Christie and Hickox fight each other and Hickox tells Christie “I cannot wait to sue you,” and Christie responds “oh, yeah? Well, get in line. It starts all the way back at the GW Bridge, and traffic is very slow!”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett