Although the folks at Jimmy Kimmel Live tried presenting it as a spontaneous skit, anyone with a lukewarm intelligence quotient knew they really were doing a five minute public service announcement for ObamaCare.
If you think guest Owen Wilson was able to create all the charts he had AND get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to join him AND have a choir that included the band Panic! at the Disco sing a song about healthcare without any assistance from Kimmel or his staff, I’ve got some beachfront property in Florida to sell you (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
During his interview with Wilson, Kimmel asked, “I don’t want to get too political, but how do you feel, what do you think about this government shutdown. Have you been affected by it?”
“Well,” Wilson responded, “I don’t even think you have to get too political. I mean, regardless of what you think about ObamaCare, your heart just kind of goes out to anyone who doesn’t have health insurance.”
After the two agreed that people are suffering, Wilson suggested he and Kimmel do a public service announcement.
Kimmel said he’d have to check his schedule, but Wilson said, “Let’s do it now.”
Wilson asked the band for a little music, and looked into the camera doing his best PSA-style voice as the lights were dimmed behind him. Kimmel continued to act as if he didn’t know what was going on as Wilson began his pitch.
After getting Kimmel to say his name into the camera for his support, Wilson then walked downstage right to where there was an easel set up with charts detailing health insurance statistics.
He continued downstage right to introduce “ordinary Americans” standing on stage that don’t have insurance.
Wilson then said as he walked further downstage right, “But don’t take my word for it. Take it from a nineteen-time NBA all-star, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”
Guess who then walked through a door on stage to much applause from the studio audience.
After introducing himself, Jabbar continued with Wilson’s health insurance pitch.
Wilson then asked everyone to "join me, Kareem, the Jimmy Kimmel Children’s Choir, and Panic! at the Disco in calling on healthcare for everyone.”
Cue music and choir to sing a song about everyone being insured. Standing with them but not singing was Jabbar with a little flag in his hand that simply read “Care.”
“Together we can make a difference,” Wilson said seated back next to Kimmel. “Won't you join me and Jimmy in calling for healthcare for all.”
Kimmel continued to pretend that he had no idea about any of this as the audience began applauding.
“I don’t know what happened there,” he said.
Once again, if you believe that…well, you know.
It sure must be nice to be president and have television networks doing your bidding.
Of course, as Deadline revealed Wednesday, this might just be the beginning:
Will Obamacare become plot fodder for CBS’ Hostages and Under The Dome? A $500,000 grant awarded this week to USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Hollywood Health & Society program certainly suggests it’s a possibility. In the latest push to get Tinseltown to promote President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the decade-old program has received the money from the private California Endowment to give Hollywood producers, writers and execs details about the newly launched health insurance initiative. “Our experience has shown that the public gets just as much, if not more, information about current events and important issues from their favorite television shows and characters as they do from the news media and online resources,” said Hollywood Health & Society’s Martin Kaplan in a statement today. “This grant will allow us to ensure that industry practitioners have up-to-date, relevant facts on health care reform to integrate into their storylines and projects.”
Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?
