It seems General Motors can’t escape ridicule and teasing for its handling of the recall of 2.6 million of its small cars over faulty ignition switches. The company was ridiculed by Jon Stewart last week during a 10-minute long segment on the comedian’s satirical news program, The Daily Show, and now, Saturday Night Live has thrown a few proverbial punches in their direction as well.
In the late-night comedy show’s opening skit on Saturday, Mary Barra, portrayed by actor Kate McKinnon, is seen testifying before Congress. She cannot answer any of the committee’s questions, instead saying variations of “we’re looking into that,” for each one of their inquiries. When asked when she learned of the problem, the actor portraying Barra comically says “I am looking into knowing when I first knew about it but I won’t know the results of that knowing until I know for sure.”
The skit also touched upon Barra’s frequent use of the ‘new GM’ and ‘old GM’ terms during the Congressional hearing. When asked who she replaced as CEO when she took office in January, Barra replies “I don’t know,” followed by “the first rule of ‘new GM’ is you never talk about ‘old GM.’”
SNL’s skit was a parody of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation’s two and a half hour-long questioning of the newly appointed CEO. And while the questioning itself was rather serious, pertaining to the delayed recall of 2.6 million vehicles and reports of 13 confirmed deaths and 31 crashes as a result of the defective vehicles, the skit provides a comical take on the otherwise unfortunate matter.
Comment
Hilarious. “The first rule of new GM is not talking about old GM.”