“Mad Men” star and former People magazine “Sexiest Man Alive” Harry Hamlin dons a “mystic tan” to play House Speaker John Boehner in a new comedic viral video from the humor website Funny or Die.
“A lot of people have coined me as enemy No. 1 when it comes to raising the federal minimum wage so people can actually live off what they earn,” the heavily made-up Hamlin says directly to camera. “The truth is, people actually make a lot more money than their hourly wage.”
Hamlin’s Boehner appears completely ignorant of the fact that minimum-wage workers don’t have access to company steam rooms or six-figure bonuses.
“What about the company cars that take the minimum wage Taco Bell fry cook to work, hmm?” Hamlin asks.
An intrepid assistant routinely interrupts Hamlin’s Boehner to correct him on the facts only to be shooed away.
In reality, Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has been a staunch opponent of President Obama’s proposal to increase the national minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10. Boehner has called raising the minimum wage a “job killer” and has only supported a hike once in his nearly 20 years in Congress, back in 2006, under President George W. Bush.
In fact, Boehner once infamously claimed he would rather commit suicide than vote for a “clean” minimum wage bill.
Obama has sidestepped Congress to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors. He raised hourly wages to $10.10 through executive order in June. Boehner has cited this action as an example of executive overreach in his controversial lawsuit against the president.
The American public has consistently supported a minimum wage increase. A Pew poll from earlier this year found that 73% of the country, including 53% of Republicans, agree with Obama’s position. Former Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have also backed a wage hike. And states like Hawaii and Vermont have taken matters into their own hands, increasing their minimum wages through their local governments.
Funny or Die has a history of releasing left-leaning political broadsides featuring stars lampooning everything from Mitt Romney’s purported 2012 outreach to women to the “self-deportation” immigration policy supported by some Republicans.
Boehner’s press secretary Michael Steel was underwhelmed by Hamlin’s efforts. He told msnbc via email, “That guy is funnier in ‘Mad Men.’”
Adam Howard