'SNL' Mocks Fox News for Collins Coverage Instead of Legacy Media

“Saturday Night Live” mocked Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” during its cold opening for its coverage of Jason Collins, the NBA player who came out in a Sports Illustrated article last week, even though there was much more to mock about the legacy media’s coverage. 

In the skit, actors Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, and Bobby Moynihan played Fox hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade, respectively. 

Doocy said he knew a lot of people who were unemployed and President Barack Obama was trying to solve their problems by congratulating basketball players for being gay.

“Can we please stop calling him a hero?” Carlson said. 

The trio then discussed how they deserved to be called heroes for what was unique to them. 

Doocy said, “I prefer Asian ladies. I’m a hero.” Carlson said she deserved a medal for using prescription deodorant all over her body. Kilmeade said, “I practice French kissing on my hand.”

Doocy then said he was surprised that the first gay player was from the NBA because he “would have figured it’d be in hockey because it’s so close to figure skating.” Carlson said she thought it would have been an NFL center who hikes the ball because he was “already in that position.” Kilmeade said he would have thought it would have been a WNBA player because “a lot of those guys look like women already.”

The legacy media this week lauded Collins effusively, falsely compared him to Jackie Robinson, which became even more so when it was revealed that Collins was not even the first openly gay active player in major professional team sports.

That distinction belongs to Glenn Burke, the baseball player who came out to teammates, opponents, and reporters while he played in the 1970s with the Dodgers and the A’s. 

The legacy press also, for the most part, ignored another aspect of Collins’s story. Collins was engaged to a woman who he had dated for eight years. Collins led her on, only to call off their wedding without explanation. That woman, Carolyn Moos, said Collins finally told her two weeks ago that he broke off the engagement because he was gay. But that did not stop the legacy press from calling Collins a hero on par with Jackie Robinson.