'Saturday Night Live' Audience Erupts With Applause At Mention Of Luigi Mangione In Disturbing Moment

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The audience on set for this weekend's edition of ‘Saturday Night Live’ cheered, loudly, for alleged murderer Luigi Mangione. While SNL started catering strictly to the left years ago, 30 Rockefeller Plaza erupting into applause at the mention of an alleged assassin is a new low, and a disturbing one, at that.

The strange moment came during the ‘Weekend Update’ segment when Colin Jost simply mentioned Mangione's name. He had to stop the segment for a few seconds because the screaming and clapping from the audience was so loud, and even Jost was taken aback by folks wooing for the alleged killer.

"Yeah, definitely ‘woo,'" Jost said, while awkwardly looking around. "You’re ‘wooing’ for justice, right?"

What are the odds that the women in the audience screaming in favor of Mangione are single and recently got kicked off of their parent's insurance? Not zero, that's for sure.

After the applause settled, Jost leaned into the trend of Mangione being seen more as a handsome guy and not the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Jost joked that the dating app Bumble "exploded" just as Mangione was extradited to New York. None of it was funny, but SNL swings and misses at an astounding rate these days, so no surprise there. 

SNL had no choice but to do a segment on the Mangione situation given that it's one of the biggest stories in the world at the moment, but Jost's reaction says it all. As a long-time cast member, he's seen and said a lot of things that may have rubbed some people (mainly conservatives) the wrong way, but not even he was prepared for the lengthy applause for an alleged murderer.

Mangione is facing charges in New York, Pennsylvania, and federal court. In the New York case, he is facing charges of first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder, including one as an act of terrorism, and a number of weapons charges.

New York state does not have the death penalty, but the federal charges could bring a death sentence if Mangione is convicted.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.