The crowd at Studio 8H watching Saturday Night Live went absolutely wild at the mention of accused killer Luigi Mangione.
The stunning moment happened during Weekend Update — when SNL’s Colin Jost set up a joke about the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“Luigi Mangione dropped—” Jost said, before he was interrupted by screams of approval from the crowd.
Jost took a swipe at the audience after they cheered the accused murder.
“Yeah, definitely, woo!” Jost said, sarcastically. “You’re wooing for justice, right?”
The audience laughed, before Jost launched into his joke — in which he made light of those who find Mangione attractive.
“Luigi Mangione dropped his extradition fight and was flown from Pennsylvania to New York to face multiple charges,” he said. “In related news, [dating app] Bumble exploded.”
The quip drew more laughter and cheers. Michael Che followed up with a similarly-themed joke of his own.
“Luigi Mangione has been placed in the same federal prison as Sean Combs. Said Combs, ‘Mmm…Christmas came early,” Che said — as the screen cut to a shot of a shirtless Mangione, which again got the crowd hooting and hollering.
The cheers from the SNL audience comport with a stunning recent poll from Emerson college — which found 41 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 found the killing of Brian Thompson “acceptable,” compared to only 40 percent
Watch above, via NBC.