“It was really gross” — Scarlett Johansson addresses “vulgar” SNL joke about her that Michael Che penned and made her husband Colin Jost read on air

Scarlett Johansson addressed the SNL joke about her that comedian Michael Che penned. In her recent interview with InStyle on March 11, the actress called the joke gross and vulgar.

For the unversed, in SNL's Weekend Update segment, comedians Colin Jost and Michael Che talk about the week's biggest news. The two comedians write and then swap the jokes. In the December 21, 2024, episode, while Colin Jost's wife, Johansson, was present on set, Che wrote jokes about her private parts and made Jost read them. As per the actress, she was informed beforehand that jokes would be inappropriate.

Scarlett Johansson revealed in a recent interview that when she was told that there would be such jokes, she didn't take it seriously. Then, when she saw the Costco roast beef sandwich photo on the screen, she realized the joke. She said:

"It was so vulgar. I just can't believe that they went there. I was like—it was so gross. It was really gross, and, like, old-school gross. My experience of it was so funny. I was like, I mean, it's a v*gina joke, how bad could it be? And then as soon as the Costco photo came up, I was like 'No! No, Michael!'"

Johansson shared that when the SNL camera crew quickly showed up to catch her reaction to the joke, she felt like she was on To Catch a Predator, a popular reality television series hosted by Chris Hansen, where child predators were caught red-handed. The actress said she almost fainted.

"The fact that it took on a full To Catch a Predator-style reveal or whatever. That was so intense. All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights, and a guy with a video camera. They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane. I was like, 'I think I'm going to faint,'" she said.

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What did Scarlett Johansson's husband Colin Jost say about the viral joke?

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost at the "Fly Me To The Moon" World Premiere - Image via Getty

According to Variety's report, the Weekend Update segment went viral after the Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live aired. Currently, the segment has more than 7.5 million views on YouTube.

Colin Jost appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January 2025, when Fallon asked Jost if he had gotten in trouble with his wife after the segment. Jost laughed and replied that the segment had gotten him in trouble with many people.

"I’m in trouble, I think, with a lot of people. Scarlett was genuinely so shocked," he said.

Jost shared that both he and Scarlett Johansson were unaware of the joke, and the SNL crew only asked her if she would be comfortable with a v*gina joke.

"They were like, 'Hey, would you be okay if Michael made a little, like, kind of v*gina joke at some point?' She was like, 'Sure, whatever, I’m open to it.' I didn’t know where it was going," he said.

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According to IMDb, Scarlett Johansson's upcoming movie Jurassic World: Rebirth will be released on July 2, 2025. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it stars Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, and Rupert Friend alongside Johansson.