This Week’s “SNL” Mocked Aaron Rodgers’s Vaccine Stance

A cold open to remember

"Aaron Rodgers" on "SNL"
Pete Davidson played Aaron Rodgers on this week's "SNL."
NBCUniversal

Aaron Rodgers has had a textbook example of an eminently avoidable bad week. First, it transpired that he had been, shall we say, less than fully truthful about his vaccination status — something with plenty of worrying implications for his team and for any one who interacted with him under the belief that he was fully vaccinated. Rodgers’s response was to double down, cite the “woke mob” and raise bizarre concerns about whether COVID-19 vaccines might affect his ability to father a child.

These things tend to come in threes. In this case, the trifecta was rounded out by Saturday Night Live thoroughly mocking Rodgers in the cold open of their latest episode. The sketch was structured as an episode of Justice with Judge Jeanine — here played by Cecily Strong — who had Rodgers (played by Pete Davidson) on to talk about his lack of vaccination.

Introduced as “[a]n American strong enough to say, ‘Screw you, science! I know Joe Rogan!’,” Davidson-as-Rodgers offered a very different take on his 7-1 record this season before wistfully looking back on the time he hosted Jeopardy!.

The rest of the sketch featured a few other notable impressions, including James Austin Johnson’s take on Donald Trump — which included some fantastic free-association — and Heidi Garner discussing banning books in the state of Virginia. It was a more focused sketch than some previous editions in this vein; Strong’s presence at the center of it helped keep things anchored, making for a memorable eight minutes.

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