If you had any doubt actor Woody Harrelson was lampooning COVID-19 protocols during his viral “Saturday Night Live” monologue over the weekend, he likely confirmed it in a New York Times interview published shortly before his “SNL” hosting gig in which he let loose with more disgust over the policies, saying, “[L]et’s be done with this nonsense.”
What are the details?
Variety focused on tidbits from the interview, noting that the actor expressed uncertainty about the future of independent movies due to “all the COVID protocols” in place, saying they’re “absurd.”
“What’s absurd about the COVID protocols?” the Times asked Harrelson, according to Variety.
“The fact that they’re still going on!” he replied, the magazine noted. “I don’t think that anybody should have the right to demand that you’re forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask, and forced to get vaccinated three years on. I’m just like, let’s be done with this nonsense. It’s not fair to the crews. I don’t have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How’s that not up to the individual? I shouldn’t be talking about this [expletive].”
Variety added that Harrelson told the Times it “makes me angry for the crew. The anarchist part of me, I don’t feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That’s not a free country. Really, I’m talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I’m not in the same position they’re in, but it’s wrong. It’s three years. Stop.” He added that “as an anarchist, I don’t do well with mandates,” according to the magazine.
How did readers react?
Variety readers by and large seemed to support Harrelson’s stance as he stated in his Times interview:
- “Kudos to him,” one commenter noted. “But many of us were saying this since spring of 2020 while Penske Media sites were censoring our comments.”
- “ICON!!!!!” another reader exclaimed. “The world has moved on. Vaccinations are no longer relevant. Let people work.”
- “Good for him,” another commenter said. “This farce has gone on 2 years too long.”
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