Actor and comedian Bill Murray was apparently fed up with an awkward and offhand speech from Trump’s chief economic advisor Kevin Hassett on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Murray was unexpectedly included in a CNBC interview Monday with “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernan during a segment on the state of the economy between Becky Quick and Hassett, who serves as director of the National Economic Council. In the middle of the interview, Murray walked in between the show’s hosts and asked Hassett (who appeared on camera from afar) to say the words “My dog just died.”
“I would regret it if I didn’t take this opportunity,” Murray said after being introduced by Kernan. He then asked Hassett, who recently called the US economic crisis a “myth”: “Can you say the words ‘My dog just died?’ I want to see what happens to your smile.”
Hassett asked, “Oh, well, is that your dog or my dog?” “Your dog,” Murray said. “Okay. My dog just died,” Hassett said without smiling. “You did it!” Kernan shouted.
Murray later told Hassett: “We were going to have someone take his blood. We’re going to abort it. It’s not going to happen.”
Murray was at the CNBC studios earlier Monday after appearing on “Squawk Box” with author Tom Coyne for an interview about “A Course Called Ireland,” a six-part travel and golf docuseries on Paramount+ in which he starred in Coyne’s 2009 book of the same name.
Hassett was in the news last week when he called the “affordability crisis” in the United States a “myth” pushed by Trump haters. “The amount of consumption per household has increased by maybe $5,000 per household,” Hassett told Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow to Mediaite. “After inflation, booming income, booming capital spending, people keeping their jobs, all the things that make the economy great, that means: [the] affordability crisis – it’s a myth!
Watch the conversation between Murray and Hassett: