Britt: I was ‘pretty pumped’ that ‘SNL’ picked Scarlett Johansson to spoof me
Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) is giving her seal of approval to Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of her on “Saturday Night Live,” calling it “awesome” that the “Black Widow” star was chosen to mock her State of the Union rebuttal last week.
“I actually was pretty pumped about that,” Britt said about Johansson’s selection in an appearance on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) “Verdict” podcast.
“I mean, how awesome is that?” she asked.
“I thought, you know what, obviously [you] know we’re going to be the cold open, like how is this going to work out? And you wonder, who in the world is going to play you,” Britt told Cruz.
Johansson skewered Britt in “SNL’s” opening segment after the senator delivered the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
In a nod to critics who had mocked Britt as appearing overly dramatic, Johansson said on the NBC sketch comedy show, “My name is Katie Britt and I have the honor of serving the great people of Alabama. But tonight I’ll be auditioning the part of scary mom performing an original monologue called ‘This Country is Hell.’”
Britt told Cruz on Wednesday’s podcast, “I’ll be honest with you, a bingo card of 2024 for Katie Britt — I did not have this on it. And so certainly didn’t have Scarlett Johansson playing me.”
The 42-year-old lawmaker said she might have even scored some points with her kids with Johansson’s impression.
“I said, ‘You know, look, it could be worse. I mean, Scarlett Johansson. Here you have Black Widow — they bring in someone from ‘Avengers’ to play me in the cold open. I’m here for it,” she exclaimed.
“Scarlett Johansson is hot,” Cruz told his colleague.
“And I am genuinely jealous because, look, ‘SNL’ has come after me a bunch of times. They don’t ever have Tom Cruise play me!” he added.
“How come you get a gorgeous movie star? That is a real compliment that you ought to be pretty psyched with,” Cruz told Britt.
“At least you are played by a woman,” the Texas Republican said, recalling how the show tapped cast member Aidy Bryant to portray him in 2021.
“She’s really funny,” Cruz said of Bryant. “I laughed. I thought it was awesome. And she looks pretty good in the beard, by the way. It’s a good look.”
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