Scarlett Johansson poked fun at Sen. Katie Britt during this week’s “Saturday Night Live” cold open, parodying the Republican’s response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
In a Thursday-night speech from her kitchen, the real-life Britt lambasted Biden over a border crisis she said he “invited” and a country she said was more dangerous than it was four years ago.
In a dark turn, Britt appeared to blame Biden for the death of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who the president, in an unscripted moment, had said was murdered by “an illegal.” She also told a story about a victim of human trafficking, which she implied happened during Biden’s tenure — a story she received criticism for.
Johansson parodied the senator’s response to Biden’s address, saying, as Britt, that she’s auditioning for the part of “scary mom.”
“And I’ll be performing an original monologue called ‘This Country is Hell,’” Johansson said. The actor added that she’s concerned about “the future of our children.”
“And this is why I’ve invited you into this strange, empty kitchen. Because Republicans wanted me to appeal to women voters, and women love kitchen,” Johansson said to laughter from the crowd.
Johansson, as Britt, called Biden’s address “the performance of a permanent politician,” adding with a dramatic flourish that she is “not performing.”
Alluding to Britt’s story about a human-trafficking victim, Johansson said she’s “going to do a pivot out of nowhere into a shockingly violent story about sex trafficking.”
“And rest assured, every detail about it is real, except the year, where it took place, and who was president when it happened,” Johansson said.
Shortly after Britt’s address Thursday, a viral social media post by journalist Jonathan Katz looked more closely at the story and noted that the trafficking did not happen during Biden’s presidency, or even in the United States; it happened during the administration of President George W. Bush, in Mexico.
Johansson then said she’s making the video not only to respond to Biden’s State of the Union address, but also to sell cross necklaces for QVC.
“This Affinity Diamond necklace goes with anything, and you can wear it from da church to da club,” Johansson said.
The actor continued, saying “the American Dream has turned into a nightmare.”
Toward the end, Johansson re-created a scene from the movie “Get Out” in which white actor Catherine Keener scrapes a spoon across her teacup to hypnotize a Black character played by Daniel Kaluuya. “SNL” cast member Kenan Thompson portrays Kaluuya’s character in the scene, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and staring wide-eyed into the camera, with a tear falling down his face.
“But to the American people who are struggling right now, know this. We hear you. We see you. We smell you,” the actor said. “We’re inside your kitchen right now, looking through your fridge. And what’s that on the top shelf? Migrants.”
Britt responded to criticism of her speech on “Fox News Sunday,” where she did not acknowledge making any mistake or leaving a wrong impression.
She was asked whether she meant to give the impression that the story she told about a victim of human trafficking happened during Biden’s tenure.
“No,” Britt answered, adding later: “I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12, so I didn’t say a teenager. I didn’t say a young woman, a grown woman, a woman when she was trafficked when she was 12.”
She doubled down on her Thursday statement that Biden “didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.”
The White House shot back at the Republican senator, accusing Britt of relying on “debunked lies” to attack Biden.
“Instead of telling more debunked lies to justify opposing the toughest bipartisan border legislation in modern history, Senator Britt should stop choosing human smugglers and fentanyl traffickers over our national security and the Border Patrol Union,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “Like President Biden said in his State of the Union, ‘We have a simple choice: We can fight about fixing the border or we can fix it.’”
Britt’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News.
