Talk about awkward. OnSaturday Night Live, “Weekend Update” segment co-hostColinJostunwittingly mocked his wife, MCU starScarlett Johansson. The joke at Johansson’s expense occurred during the December 19 Christmas episodehosted bySNLalumKristen Wiig. Among the highlight’s from the recent Saturday episode was the introduction ofcast regularAlex Moffatas the newJoe BidenfollowingJim Carrey’s exit from the role.
On the finalSNLepisode of 2020,Jost and Che reprised a favorite bitthat sees the co-hosts swap jokes. The big twist here is that the jokes Che and Jost write for one another heavily toe the line and often see them making (very) borderline racist, sexist, or otherwise inappropriate jokes. Last night’s edition of the annual joke swap was no different, with Che reading jokes about theHocus Pocussequel and spending time at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. Meanwhile, Jost was saddled with three jokes involving the Black community. The final joke of the swap saw Jost reporting on Creed frontmanScott Stapp’s casting in the upcomingRonald Reaganbiopicas croonerFrank Sinatra. The punchline went a little something like this: “But the good news isSammy Davis Jr.will be played by Scarlett Johansson.”
The joke at Johansson’s expense pulls from real and legitimate concerns over the kinds of roles the actor has sought out in the past. Johansson rightfully receivedscrutiny for playing a canonically Japanese characterin the 2017 live-action adaptation ofGhost in the Shell. Later, she stepped down from her involvement in the based-on-a-true-story filmRub andTugafter being cast to play a fictional version ofDante “Tex” Gill, a trans male gangster living in 1970s Pittsburgh. Johansson, a cisgender woman,issued a statement acknowledgingwhy it was wrong for her to play Gill, but only after a large public outcry emerged around her casting.
All episodes of the 2020 portion ofSaturday Night LiveSeason 46 are now available to stream on Hulu and Peacock. Watch Colin Jost and Michael Che trade awful jokes below. For more, find outwhenSNLmight come back in 2021.
