Italian TV Mocks Joe Biden With Brutal Skit

President Joe Biden was mocked over the weekend in a skit on an Italian comedy show, following disputed claims that his cognitive abilities are in significant decline.

The skit comes after the release of special counsel Robert Hur's report into Biden's handling of Obama-era classified documents. The files were found at Biden's private residence in Delaware and at his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., between November 2022 and January 2023.

Earlier this month, the inquiry said that Biden, 81, had significant issues with his memory while answering questions from investigators as part of the probe. While Hur said criminal charges were not warranted against Biden, the report raised questions about his cognitive abilities, including suggesting his memory was "significantly limited."

Saying that his "memory is fine," Biden has spoken out against the claims, which have been used as ammunition among his political detractors. Vice President Kamala Harris called the report "politically motivated" and insisted that Biden is "smart" and "on his game" during closed-door meetings. First lady Jill Biden, meanwhile, joined a chorus of proxies vouching for Biden's fitness and energy.

Still, Biden's previous gaffes played up by Italian comedian Maurizio Crozza, who portrayed the president on the season premiere of his comedy show, Fratelli di Crozza. In the past, the comic has impersonated Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the nation's late leader Silvio Berlusconi.

However, it was Biden who was parodied over the weekend, with a sketch showing Crozza's version of the Democrat stumbling past his podium in a state of confusion. As he struggled to stand still, Crozza's Biden misnamed world leaders and mixed up major historical events.

Crozza's bumbling version of Biden then picked up and opened a briefcase with a large red button as he explained that he had forgotten to take his pills.

"That's the briefcase with the atomic codes," a voice warned Crozza's Biden. "You're not alright. This is a big deal."

"Now I'll call the nurse," Crozza's Biden said, before pushing the red button, subsequently activating nuclear warheads.

The sketch was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the account @EndWokeness over the weekend. "Italian TV just aired this skit mocking Joe Biden and his cognitive decline," read a caption accompanying the video, which as of press time has been viewed more than 7.5 million times.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Biden via email for comment.

Comedian Rob Schneider weighed in on the post, as he took an apparent swipe at Saturday Night Live (SNL). "Italy's late night comedy is way better," he wrote.

Schneider—who worked on SNL between 1988 and 1994, going from writer to cast member in 1990—hit out at the long-running comedy show during an appearance on The Glenn Beck Podcast in August 2022.

The comedian said that a November 2016 sketch featuring Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton after her election loss to Trump was the moment he decided the show was "over."

"I hate to c*** on my own show," Schneider told Beck. "When Hillary Clinton lost—which is understandable why she lost. She's not exactly the most logical person in the room.

"Then when Kate McKinnon went out there on Saturday Night Live in the cold opening and all that, and she's dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing 'Hallelujah'. I literally prayed, 'Please have a joke at the end. Don't do this. Please don't go down there.' And there was no joke at the end, and I went, 'It's over. It's over. It's not gonna come back.'"

Meanwhile, another X user commented that those involved in producing Crozza's Biden skit "nailed it," adding: "Unfortunately our government has become a joke."

"We are a laughing stock to the world," another wrote in response to the viral video clip.

Comedian and political commentator Tim Young suggested that political bias was the reason for SNL not giving Biden the same treatment.

"If SNL wasn't just propaganda for Democrats, they'd mock Biden like this as well...," Young wrote on X.

Amid the flood of anti-Biden comments sparked by the clip, some X users pushed back, with one suggesting that the world stopped respecting the United States after the 2016 election of former The Apprentice star Donald Trump.

"Yeah, that's what happens when people vote for a reality television star who bankrupted multiple businesses to run the leading first world country...," they wrote.

A number of Biden's allies have claimed that he's in better shape than likely election opponent Trump, who is 77 and would be the second oldest U.S. president ever after the incumbent. Democrats argued that in campaign appearances, Biden comes across as more stable than Trump, pointing to Trump's tendency to forget facts, misspeak, and make false claims.

Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans think both men are too old to serve another term in the White House. However, public surveys also show more Americans think that way about Biden than about Trump.

Among American adults, 59 percent said they thought both Biden and Trump were too old to serve second terms as president, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll that was conducted after Hur's report was released. Yet 27 percent said only Biden was too old, compared to just 3 percent who said Trump was too old to take office again.