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John Mulaney cracked a joke about the investigation into the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, during the latest episode of his Netflix talk show.
On Wednesday’s episode of his Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney show, the comedian used a portion of his opening monologue to riff on the Santa Fe police’s thorough investigation into the February deaths of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65.
“Scientists are now like, ‘We believe dinosaurs were killed 66 million years ago by an asteroid,’” Mulaney, 42, joked.
“Stop. You don’t know that. We don’t even know how Gene Hackman and his wife died, and we found their whole bodies with full clothes on, one week after the event,” he added.
The couple, along with one of their dogs, was found dead in their Santa Fe home on February 26. It was determined that by the state of the corpses, they had likely died more than a week before they were found. Hackman’s daughter initially speculated that carbon monoxide poisoning may have been the cause, but following a weeks-long investigation, it was determined that each had died from natural causes.
Arakawa’s death was attributed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a disease often spread by rodents that target the lungs and can cause serious illness and death. The French Connection star died about a week after his wife from heart disease, with Alzheimer’s disease contributing.
“How about that Santa Fe police?” Mulaney continued. “‘Uh, hello. Press conference No. 470. We now believe that a rat bit Mrs. Hackman, turning her hands into mummy hands.’ Just slow down. You don’t know what happened.”
The Big Mouth voice actor’s quip comes just over a month after the final police conference regarding the passing of Hackman and Arakawa. Still, additional details surrounding the couple’s tragic passing have continued to emerge. Last week, it was discovered that Arakawa had spent her last days searching the internet for information about flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques.
Some viewers found Mulaney’s humorous take on the investigation “sickening.”
“Just me thinking the Gene Hackman bit was just a tad sickening,” one person wrote on Reddit. Others, however, came to Mulaney’s defense, with a second arguing: “That was the best line of the show.”
“Only John could get away with a Gene Hackman joke this soon,” another said.
The Independent has contacted Mulaney for comment.
New episodes of Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney are released on Wednesdays on Netflix.
English (US) ·