Social media users criticized “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend for glossing over the massive nursing home scandal embroiling New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, choosing instead to mock his appearance and COVID-19 reopening guidelines.
The Weekend Update hosts referenced the New York Democrat twice in the segment, but made no mention of the mounting allegations that his office deliberately covered up thousands of deaths in nursing home facilities throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Host Michael Che compared Cuomo to the “real-life model” for Moe Syslack, referring to the bartender character in “The Simpsons,” while describing New York’s expansion of its COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include those with underlying conditions.
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“New Yorkers will have to provide documentation of their condition and answer medical questions like, ‘Whats-a-matter, you?'” Che said.
Co-host Colin Jost also took aim at Cuomo’s plan to reopen sports stadiums to allow 10 percent of fans.
“Gov. Cuomo also announced that he would allow sporting venues to open starting Feb. 23rd but limit them to 10 percent capacity — better known as Jets level,” Jost said.
Twitter users were quick to point out the segment’s glaring omission of the New York Post bombshell report alleging that Cuomo’s office deliberately covered up thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths for fear that the data could “be used against us.”
“Wow, two jokes on SNL about COVID and Cuomo but zero about the cover up. Wow. What, was it too easy?,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Super cute how SNL weekend update brought up Governor Cuomo twice and not the thirteen thousand disabled people he murdered,” another tweeted.
The Post reported that Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, told leading Empire State Democrats during a video conference call last week that the administration misrepresented the true number of deaths to DOJ investigators over fears that the data could “be used against us.”
The DOJ began investigating nursing home coronavirus deaths in four states in August – New York among them.
“We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa told the lawmakers, according to the Post report.
Cuomo refused for months to release data on how the pandemic has hit nursing home residents, instead pointing to figures more favorable to his administration.
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The state was recently forced to acknowledge that the nursing home resident death toll reached nearly 15,000, after previously reporting 8,500 – a number that excluded residents who died after being taken to hospitals. The new toll amounts to about one-seventh of the people living in nursing homes as of 2019 in New York.