Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
• Few people are lucky enough to be portrayed on screen by their favorite actor. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has been a prominent voice during the coronavirus crisis, had his wish granted over the weekend when Brad Pitt played him in the cold opening of Saturday Night Live.
“I’m a great fan of Brad,” Fauci said in an interview with Telemundo on Monday.
“That’s the reason why when people ask me who’d I like to play me, I mention
Brad Pitt because he’s one of my favorite actors. I think he did a great job.” Pitt donned Fauci’s signature glasses and nailed his Brooklyn accent during SNL’s second at-home episode in a sketch that pointedly criticized the way President Donald Trump has handled his news conferences during the pandemic. At the end of the sketch, the actor removed his wig and glasses to thank Fauci for “your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time” as well as the medical workers, first responders and their families for being on the front lines. “I think he showed that he is a really classy guy,” Fauci said of Pitt’s homage. “So not only is he a really great actor, but he is actually a classy person.”
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, announced the birth of a son on Wednesday, just two days after Johnson returned to work following hospitalization for the coronavirus. Johnson’s office said Symonds gave birth to a “healthy baby boy” in a public hospital in London on Wednesday morning, and that both mother and infant were doing well. Johnson was present for the birth but was back at work in 10 Downing St. within hours, as his government faces a deadline of next week to amend or extend the country’s coronavirus lockdown. Johnson’s office said he would take paternity leave later in the year. Conservative leader Johnson, 55, and Symonds, 32, announced in February that they were engaged and expecting a child together. At the time, they said the baby was due in early summer. Johnson only returned to work Monday after suffering from a bout of coronavirus that left him dangerously ill. He spent a week in London’s St. Thomas’ hospital, including three nights in intensive care. Symonds, an environmental campaigner and former Conservative Party staffer, also said she was sick for a week with covid-19 symptoms, though she wasn’t tested for the virus. The newborn boy is Symonds’ first child. Johnson has four children with his second wife Marina Wheeler, from whom he is divorced, and has fathered at least one other child outside his marriages. House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle congratulated the couple, saying “Such happy news amid so much uncertainty — 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget.”