Variety’s “absurd and disgusting” spin on a postmortem appearance by Rob Reiner earned scathing rebukes for its Trump Derangement Syndrome.
“You guys keep finding new lows.”
In December 2025, the acclaimed director and his wife, Michele, were found brutally murdered, allegedly by their own son, 32-year-old Nick Reiner. While President Donald Trump maintained Reiner was a “deranged person,” corporate media appeared to relish that, elevating a dig at the commander-in-chief from beyond the grave with a claim Reiner “Gets the ‘Last Laugh.'”
Friday, on the eve of Independence Day, HBO aired the latest episode of Larry David’s “Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America” featuring Reiner as President George Washington playing the straight man for leftist talking point digs at Trump. The sketch led Variety to conclude, “Rob Reiner Gets the ‘Last Laugh’ Against Trump in Secret Final Role as George Washington in Larry David’s HBO Show.”
Within the episode, David’s character kicked off the Trump bashing with a question reacting to Reiner’s Washington announcing he won’t seek a third term, “Well, what if there’s some a**hole in office, some narcissistic prick who doesn’t follow the Constitution?”
“He could use the presidency to enrich himself and his family,” continued the star who also peddled the narrative that the Supreme Court was compromised in Trump’s favor. “He could send troops into American cities to terrorize and even kill American citizens, all to distract from the fact that he’s friends with a pedophile.”
In concluding the sketch, Reiner declared, “We’re f*cked,” after Jimmy Kimmel had his own cameo questioning if the president would “challenge anyone who dares make fun of him, as if he were a big baby?”
Speaking with Variety about the content, director Jeff Schaffer expressed, “It’s coming out on Fourth of July weekend, and if it in any way spoils a sad octogenarian’s weekend, then oh well!”
Schaffer also told the outlet that he and David had been editing the scene two days before the Reiners were murdered. Alleged to have killed his parents, Nick Reiner pled not guilty and has been awaiting a preliminary hearing. The showrunners opted to keep Rob Reiner’s scene out of the Los Angeles premiere only to drop it ahead of America’s semiquincentennial.
“It just didn’t feel like the right way to show the world,” he said of the LA premiere. “We thought long and hard about where the sketch should air … and ultimately we decided that July 3 was the perfect time. Just let it come out on the Fourth of July weekend, on the 250th, and let it sink in that way.”
While Schaffer seemed delighted at his own decision-making, Variety was heavily criticized for its spin on the unfunny sketch in light of Reiner’s untimely end.
Did a child write that headline, Variety, note to self, worthless rag.
— BlueFergus9 (@KingFergus9) July 5, 2026
This is a morbid and grotesque post. You have a great deal of introspection that needs to be done.
— Forward_Thinking (@Discernment01) July 5, 2026
What a sick thing to write. Things written like this should not be acceptable outside of reddit.
— Lilia (@Lilia1129405) July 4, 2026
Using a murdered man to further publicly indulge your raging pathological TDS is super gross…even for you.
— CarolinaConservative3 (@1776Carolina3) July 5, 2026
I watched the show nobody involved in that project is laughing. It is awful.
— Frank Fleming (@NjTank99) July 5, 2026
How pitiful. The last thing he did was hateful. What a waste of time
— Nicoletta (@Nicprehn) July 4, 2026
Really? I hear that show has abysmal ratings and very few people are watching it. Critics and audiences all appear to hate it. pic.twitter.com/YQxyRuM7ht
— Ben Dempsey (@BenDempsey18) July 4, 2026
Wow, yeah, good for him
Thought liberals had the “hate has no home here slogan” – but they sure seem to base their whole personality around hating Trump 🙄— kevin stasun (@KevinStasun) July 4, 2026
Rob Reiner was murdered by his own child and his last artistic appearance is on a poorly rated and unpopular show nobody is watching.
Trump is still alive, still the President and his kids actually love him.
Who’s laughing?
— Michael (@space_ace84) July 4, 2026
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