Jimmy Kimmel had the right response to the panic created over the possibility that powerful narcotics might be making their way into Halloween baskets this year, reimagining the classic Peanuts Halloween special “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”
The gag was part of a larger segment of Kimmel’s monologue in which he poked fun at Georgia US Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
So during his monologue, Kimmel played a recent clip of Walker pushing a conspiracy theory with no basis in fact that politicians of both parties have unfortunately taken seriously: that the cartels will disguise fentanyl pills as pop candy of Halloween. To be clear, this is just the latest iteration of the panic surrounding Halloween candy—and as Newsweek notes, none of it has been true. In fact, there are no recorded cases of a child being killed by mixing up Halloween candy. sometimes. (Read more about it here.)
Herschel’s version of the conspiracy theory involves China and Mexico colluding to do this on purpose. Again, there’s no evidence to back this up, and again, none of the previous Halloween candy panics panned out. So after playing the clip, Kimmel said, “very compelling statement about Mexico and China, from a man who couldn’t find Mexico, or China, on a map of just Mexico and China.”
“Halloween is a scary time for Herschel Walker because when kids show up at his house, he’s not sure if they want candy or child support,” Kimmel continued. Then he went to the “Peanuts” gag.
“Herschel Walker is not the first person or persons to come up with this theory about drugs being hidden in children’s bags. I mean, who can forget the classic scene from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Kimmel then rolled a video of the scene where Charlie Brown and his friends are discussing Halloween. In the original special, everyone gets candy except Charlie Brown, who gets a rock instead. In Kimmel’s version, Charlie Brown says, “I got a rock… on cocaine.”
“Charlie may have been a badass, but he wasn’t a crackpot,” Kimmel joked.
“You know, I looked up the effects of fentanyl on the DEA website,” Kimmel added. “They include sedation, drowsiness, dizziness and confusion. Which sounds a lot like Herschel Walker to me. And of course he is concerned about America’s children. Half of them are his.”
There’s more to the monologue, including a lot of time spent talking about the most recently released recordings of Donald Trump. You can now watch the whole thing above.
