When Dr. Anthony Fauci jokingly told reporters he’d like to be played by Brad Pitt on Saturday Night Live, do you think he expected his wish to come true? Well, that’s exactly what happened.
On April 10, CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Fauci if he’d prefer being played by Ben Stiller or Pitt on the now-remote sketch show. “Oh Brad Pitt,” he said at the time. “Of course.”
Well, last night’s SNL at Home kicked off with a cold open starring the Oscar-winning actor portraying Fauci, perhaps the most prominent member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
“First I’d like to thank all the older women in America who have sent me supportive, inspiring, and sometimes graphic emails,” Pitt—donning a suit, grey wig, and wire glasses—began his “address.” The rest of the sketch was dedicated to translating what President Donald Trump really means when he speaks about the coronavirus. For example, when he said “everyone can get a test.”
“What he meant was: almost no one,” Pitt’s Fauci clarified in a very heavy Brooklyn accent, before responding to further incorrect comments by the president. “So yeah, I’m getting fired,” he says later in the sketch. “But until then, I’m gonna be there putting out the facts for whoever’s listening, and when I hear things like the virus can be cured if everyone takes the Tide Pod Challenge, I’ll be there to say, ‘Please don’t.'” Really. Please don’t.
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In a very welcome move, Pitt chose to end his skit by removing his costume (just the wig and glasses, relax) and thanking Dr. Fauci and healthcare workers personally. “To the real Dr. Fauci, thank you for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time,” Pitt said. “And thank you to the medical workers, first responders, and their families for being on the front line. And now, live…kinda…from all across America, it’s Saturday night.”
It would be an understatement to say that the skit was well-received online. “Brad Pitt playing Fauci on #SNL is only going to make him more of a sex symbol,” one user tweeted. “(Fauci, I mean. But it works both ways.)” Remember, Pitt was named People’sSexiest Man Alive twice.
Here are some more reactions to the sketch:
Honestly, the only thing that could have made the sketch better would have been if Pitt wore a Fauci nametag…
January 7, 2005. And then, just like that, the fairy tale was over. “We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate. For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media. This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration,” Pitt and Aniston said in a joint statement to People at the time. “We happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another. We ask in advance for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months.”
May 2005. Pitt had already filmed Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie in 2004 and soon their relationship would become a focal point in the press. He was soon photographed with Jolie and her young son, Maddox, in Kenya, sparking rumors and the beginning of the Brangelina era. The two actors also starred in a photo shoot for W titled “Domestic Bliss” where they portrayed a happy family life.
September 2005. Aniston appears on the cover of Vanity Fair and gives one of her most famous interviews. “It was extremely hurtful to Jen that he was seen with another woman so quickly after they were separated,” her friend Andrea Bendewald said in the story.
“A man divorcing would never be accused of choosing career over children,” Aniston said of the accusations that her not wanting a child caused the split. “That really pissed me off. I’ve never in my life said I didn’t want to have children. I did and I do and I will! The women that inspire me are the ones who have careers and children; why would I want to limit myself? I’ve always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career. I want to have it all.”
Of the W shoot she said, “Is it odd timing? Yeah. But it’s not my life. He makes his choices. He can do—whatever. We’re divorced, and you can see why.” And then she uttered this famous line: “There’s a sensitivity chip that’s missing.”
October 2005. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s divorce is finalized
December 2008. Aniston gives another high-profile interview about Jolie and Pitt, this time to Vogue. She references an interview Jolie also gave to Vogue, where she implied she and Pitt fell in love on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. (“I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened. I think a few months in I realized, ‘God, I can’t wait to get to work,'” Jolie said specifically.)
“There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening,” Aniston told Vogue about Jolie’s interview. “I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss…That stuff about how she couldn’t wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.”
Brad Pitt continued his awards season winning streak at the BAFTAs on February 2—both in taking home statues for his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and giving hilarious acceptance speeches. While most Americans were focused on the Super Bowl yesterday, across the pond the Brits were handing out their version of the Oscars at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with Prince William and Kate Middleton in attendance.
Technically Pitt didn’t give this new speech himself; he had costar Margot Robbie read it for him because he couldn’t attend due to “family obligations.” But he wasn’t afraid to go there about Prince Harry‘s highly-publicized royal exit.
“Brad couldn’t be here tonight due to family obligations, so he asked me to read his response for him,” she said. “He starts by saying, ‘Hey Britain. Heard you just became single. Welcome to the club! Wishing you the best for the divorce settlement, blah blah blah.’ He then says, ‘Thank you to the Academy for this extreme honor.’ He says he’s ‘always been a bit intimidated over here given the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the titans that have come before, so this is especially meaningful.’”
But it was his final joke about Harry that really got everyone laughing—including a highly amused Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. “He’s gonna name this Harry,” Robbie said. “Because he’s really excited about bringing it back to the States with him.” Watch the clip below and you can see the royals’ reactions as the camera cuts to them. Those laughs sure look real to me.
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This seems to be, in part, a cheeky joke about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent announcement that they’d be stepping down from the royal family and spending half their time in North America. Whatever the case, Middleton and Prince William appeared in good spirits over the whole thing.
Seriously, who is Brad Pitt working with on all these acceptance speeches? Because they’ve all been stellar. He’s out here cracking jokes about Tinder, his exes, Quentin Tarantino’s thing for feet, and now the Sussexes’ move to North America.
There’s a small list of people in this universe who don’t need a name tag for strangers to identify them: Oprah, Santa Claus, Madonna, Left Shark. Also on that list is Brad Pitt—which is why it’s hilarious he wore a literal name tag to the Oscars luncheon in Los Angeles on Monday, January 27.
To be fair, all the Oscar nominees who attend are given name tags, but something about Brad Pitt—Brad! Pitt!—wearing a name tag is too good. He’s not just an actor, but a part of society’s very fabric. He’s as big a cultural institution as McDonald’s and Apple and sneaking alcohol into the movie theater. As one fan accurately put it on Twitter, even squirrels know who Brad Pitt is.
And yet the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor opted to put his on for the luncheon. The photos, naturally, are incredible. “Hi. My name is Brad Pitt,” I picture him saying to luncheon-goers, pointing to his name tag enthusiastically. The whole thing is delightfully earnest. Honestly, give Pitt’s name tag an Academy Award right alongside the best supporting actor trophy he’ll no doubt win come February 9.
Here are just a few photos of actor Cynthia Erivo (who’s also an Oscar nominee this year) chatting with Pitt and his cute name tag:
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“Did they spell my name right?” Pitt asks Erivo in my imagination, to which she just says, “Um, yeah.”
Kevork Djansezian
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
I’m sorry, Brad Pitt just can’t seriously appear on a name tag. Brad Pitt is what you wrote on your high-school-orientation name tag as a joke.
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Getty Images
“Imagine meeting Brad Pitt—and he’s wearing a name tag, identifying him as ‘Brad Pitt,’” one person joked on Twitter. Another said, “I hope Brad Pitt wears a name tag to the #Oscars.”
Read some more reactions, below.
Thank you for this gift, Oscars luncheon planners.
Backstage on the 19th, when they both accepted statutes at the SAG awards, a photographer captured an instantly-iconic photo of her hand, clasped under his. It looks, literally, like she is walking away from him, and like he is unable to let her go.
Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Mega-celebrities like Brad and Jen strike a strange deal with us, their public. We give them more money, value, and privilege of influence than anyone could ever need or want. In exchange, they entertain us—sometimes on screen, mostly in paparazzi shots and interviews and shady Instagram likes and breakdowns and addiction. Like the Greek gods were for mortals, they are our hotter, but similarly flawed, avatars. We project ourselves on them. We imagine ourselves on Brad and Jen’s last vacation as a couple. We take sides in the love triangle with Angelina. We find ourselves discussing Jen’s chances of having children as if we are her reproductive endocrinologist.
Pitt and Aniston were the golden couple. They were our royals in the long, dull interim between Princess Diana and Windsor-Sussexes. They were on top when Hollywood was still a country club that celebrated almost exclusively white people and white beauty, and they have maintained their footing even as much else has changed. We have lived in parallel with them, having children and heartbreak and successes and setbacks; they’ve stuck around with us as we exchanged the Hiltons for the Kardashians, and through six terms by four presidents. In the sprawling celebrity dollhouse that we all play in, they are Barbie and Ken.
Of course we want them to be together. It would mean that everything happens for a reason! It would mean that happy endings are real! It would mean Parent Trap was right and our divorced parents were wrong! It would mean that the Laws of Love are like the Laws of Energy: that the total amount of love in the universe remains constant over time, conserved in the hearts of people we thought had long ago moved on.
Wouldn’t it be cool if life was truly cyclical? Wouldn’t it be great if life, instead of culminating in death, culminated in sex with Brad Pitt?
That’s a good fantasy. But reality is actually better.
In reality, Jennifer Aniston is one of the most popular women in the world, and she does not need to get back together with the nice-but-slightly-greasy guy she broke up with 15 years ago. In reality, the only reason this pairing is still on the table is that despite being asked about Brad Pitt no matter what she does and where she goes, Jennifer Aniston has never said one bad word about him in public. (“That was really uncool” is the meanest thing Jennifer Aniston has ever said about Jolie and Pitt, referring to them giving interview after interview about falling in love during the first couple’s marriage.)
In reality, since his divorce and coming out with his addiction struggle, Aniston hasn’t tried to seduce him. She’s supported him with social invitations and public warmth. Even though it wasn’t exactly a loving compliment, she smiled encouragingly on Sunday night when Pitt gave his SAG acceptance speech, saying that he related to his character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, “who gets high, takes his shirt off, and doesn’t get on with his wife.” When asked about him that same night, Aniston said, “We’ve all grown up together; we really have. And it just feels like a really fun night to celebrate and cheer each other on and keep working.”
Folks, these extremely rich, pretty people are just trying to not be awful to each other. Their relationship is probably less like a sweeping epic love story nearing its satisfying conclusion, and more like two old friends who have buried the memories of the tastes of each other’s mouths under deeper feelings of mutual respect and understanding. We need to let the dream go, not for their sakes—their agents are probably overjoyed by these headlines—but for our own. We need to accept that things end. Things change. That we shouldn’t get weekday wine drunk and text our exes, and then be like “oh my god how embarrassing that was for someone else,” and then be like “well ha ha how are you.” We need to accept that we will live and die without seeing these hot shiny-haired actors kissing on the mouths ever again.
We need to take what we’re given instead: a woman who is the physical embodiment of Thank U, Next. Look at Jennifer in that silk dress, laughing, extending her hand, walking away. Look at her not getting back together with her ex, even though he’s literally Brad Pitt. God forbid something happens, ‘least her career is a smash.
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. Follow her on Twitter @JeanValjenny.
They’re the photos currently breaking the internet: Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pittreuniting backstage at the 2020 SAG Awards. Their interaction was brief but memorable. Pitt was already backstage, having just won the prize for Best Supporting Actor, and following closely behind him was Aniston for her Best Actress in a Drama Series win. Their photos together are so sweet—not romantic, to be clear, but rather two friends seemingly catching up and congratulating each other. That’s what I think, at least.
And it’s what the photographer who took the pics, Emma McIntyre, says happened. She gave some details about Pitt and Aniston’s well-documented run-in to People magazine, and it seems like it was good (platonic) vibes only.
“[They were both backstage] doing the circuit of awards press,” she tells the publication. “Jennifer had just signed some posters for SAG and was about to walk the press line. I was running back and forth between the two backstage areas and had just taken some photos of Jennifer. I was about to leave when I saw Brad coming down the hallway and sensed there would be a photo-worthy moment.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
She continues, “He called out ‘Aniston!’ and she turned around and they embraced and congratulated each other. It was a moment of two accomplished people at the top of their game, acknowledging each other’s successes and genuinely seeming happy to see one another…. The moment was really touching, and you could sense the respect between two people who have known each other 20-plus years and are both outstanding in their field.”
This is the kind of energy we all should have with our exes, TBH. Hopefully, people aren’t actually buying in to the idea Aniston and Pitt are getting back together. It’s beyond clear they’re just good friends who are happy to see the other one do well. Nothing more, nothing less.
In fact, Pitt said this himself when Entertainment Tonight asked him at the Golden Globes if he would mind running into Aniston. “I’ll run into Jen. She’s a good friend,” he said.
Meanwhile, Aniston said Pitt staying back to watch her acceptance speech at the SAGs was “sweet.”
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“We’ve all grown up together; we really have. And it just feels like a really fun night to celebrate and cheer each other on and keep working,” she told Extra TV.
