This weekend, Saturday Night Live took on Hocus Pocus 2 while poking fun at a viral story earlier this month. When Hocus Pocus 2 premiered on Disney+, a Texas mother urged parents not to let their children watch it for fear of supernatural forces invading their homes. On SNL, she was parodied by Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman.
For those unaware, Jamie Gooch of Central Texas went viral for warning her community to avoid Hocus Pocus 2 earlier this month. She told local news reporters: “A worst-case scenario is: you unleash hell on your kids and in your home. The whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices.” Gardner and Fineman did their best to ratchet up the drama even more. They joined “Weekend Update” in character as “Stacy Bussy” and “Debbie Hole,” respectively.
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The comedians were hard-pressed to be any more hyperbolic and Gooch herself was while talking to KWTX. Gooch said: “Do not watch this film. Everybody thinks it’s fake and innocent, but they could be casting any type of spell that they want to, anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home… I believe whatever comes in our TV screens: there are things attached to that, I’ve seen for myself the things that I’ve watched with my eyes or heard over a TV screen, they’ve become manifested in real life. Everybody thinks it’s fake and innocent, but they could be casting any spell they want to. Anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home.”
Fineman and Gardner poked fun at this monologue by adding even more suggestive wordplay to it – warning that viewers could have “their souls sucked off,” and so on. Meanwhile, they warned that Halloween itself is Satanic – much like Gooch, who said her family does not celebrate Halloween because it does not align with their Christian virtues – and that candy was probably evil as well.
At the peak of their diatribe, Fineman pretended to be assaulted by demonic forces right there at the news desk while Gardner tried to talk her down. Finally, the grand punchline of the sketch was that the two women would be attending a Broadway performance of Wicked that night, despite their wariness of witchcraft.
SNL is off this week, but will be back in two weeks with host and musical guest Jack Harlow. Previous episodes are streaming on Peacock and Hulu. Hocus Pocus 2 is streaming now on Disney+.
