Woody Harrelson, 61, and his family made a rare red carpet appearance together on Feb. 27, two nights after the actor gave a controversial opening monologue on Saturday Night Live that involved anti-COVID-19 vaccine rhetoric. Woody didn’t seem affected by the controversy at the NYC premiere of his new movie Champions, which he brought his wife Laura Louie and their daughters Deni, 30, and Makani, 16, to. Woody and his loved ones were all smiles as they posed for photos together. The Emmy Award winner looked so handsome in a dark blue suit and tie with a pair of bright blue sneakers.
Woody’s wife of over 14 years wore a sleeveless purple gown and gold heels. The couple’s eldest daughter, Deni, wore a black-and-white button-up top, matching pants, and a red baseball cap. Last but not least, their youngest daughter, Makani, wore a black crop top with a teal pantsuit and black platform heels. Woody and Laura’s middle daughter, Zoe, 26, didn’t attend the premiere of her dad’s new sports comedy movie.
In Champions, Woody plays a disgraced G-league basketball coach who has to redeem himself by coaching a team of players with intellectual disabilities. Amidst doing press for the film, Woody got to host SNL on Feb. 25 and became a member of the “five-timers” club of the Lorne Michaels series. But not everyone was happy about what Woody said during his opening monologue, where he made a joke about a script he read right before the COVID pandemic.
“So, the movie goes like this,” Woody said in his monologue. “The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes, and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs and keep taking them over and over,” he added. After the monologue aired, Woody was criticized online for his comments about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Shortly before his SNL appearance, the New York Times published an interview with Woody where the Cheers star slammed the “absurd” COVID protocols that are still in place on film sets. “I don’t think that anybody should have the right to demand that you’re forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask and forced to get vaccinated three years on,” he said.
Woody added, “Let’s be done with this nonsense. It’s not fair to the crews. I don’t have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How’s that not up to the individual? The anarchist part of me, I don’t feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That’s not a free country. Really I’m talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I’m not in the same position they’re in, but it’s wrong. It’s three years. Stop.”