Colin Jost winces as he delivers the joke. Photo / Twitter
Colin Jost winces as he delivers the joke. Photo / Twitter
Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost was tricked into publicly making fun of wife Scarlett Johansson during the most recent episode of the programme.
Jost and fellow comic Michael Che present SNL's popular Weekend Update news segment – and for the final episode of the year, each comic presented jokeswritten for him by his co-host that he'd never read before delivering them live on air.
Che was tricked into announcing his personal support for Jeffrey Epstein – but he got his revenge on Jost.
"It was announced that Creed singer Scott Stapp will play Frank Sinatra in an upcoming movie," Jost said, reading the joke Che had written for him and cringing as he saw the punchline: "But the good news is that Sammy Davis Jr will be played by Scarlett Johansson."
The joke was a reference to Johansson's history of casting controversies, including her 2017 starring role of Motoko Kusanagi in the Japanese manga adaptation Ghost in the Shell. Johansson and the production faced accusations of "whitewashing," casting the white A-lister as what had been an Asian character.
A year later, she signed on to play a transgender man in the movie Rub & Tug, but later dropped out amid calls for the role to be given to a trans actor.
"You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job," Johansson later said.
"I feel like it's a trend in my business and it needs to happen for various social reasons, yet there are times it does get uncomfortable when it affects the art because I feel art should be free of restrictions."
Jost and Johansson got engaged back in May 2019 after Jost presented the Marvel actress with a US$400,000 11-carat engagement ring. They married in an intimate late October 2020 ceremony in Staten Island, New York, where Jost grew up.
The 36-year-old actress and the Saturday Night Live star, 38, began dating in December 2017.
Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson. Photo / Getty Images
They first met more than a decade ago in 2006, but Johansson said her first memory of him is working on an SNL skit together in 2010.
"The only line I remember from the sketch is when Scarlett's bratty character says, 'This party is literally worse than the Holocaust'. That was my Shakespearean sonnet for the woman I would one day fall in love with," Jost recalled, according to E!.
This is Jost's first marriage and Johansson's third.
The Marvel actress finalised her divorce from Romain Dauriac in March 2017, with whom she shares a daughter named Rose, 4. She was also married to Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011.
