Colin Jost says SNL writers rejected a cold-open idea mocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for quoting a “Bible verse” from Pulp Fiction—only for Hegseth to do it in real life weeks later. The defense secretary’s Pentagon remarks and a CSAR prayer he shared
When Colin Jost sat down to talk about Pete Hegseth on The Tonight Show, he wasn’t delivering a punchline about politics so much as recounting a surreal moment that landed closer to the script than he expected.
The 43-year-old comedian. who has the job of impersonating Hegseth on Saturday Night Live. said the joke began in the SNL writers’ room—two months before it showed up in public.. Jost described pitching a cold open built around a moment from Pulp Fiction. where Hegseth’s “Bible verse” act is. in Jost’s telling. the kind of thing the writers thought would be too ridiculous to devote time to.
“We were pitching. we were talking in the writers’ room. we were pitching ideas for one of the cold opens. like. two months ago. ” Jost said on the May 14 episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.. “And I was like. ‘Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that Bible verse that they have in Pulp Fiction?’ Remember. they’re like. from Ezekiel 25:17?”
In the film, Samuel L. Jackson’s character delivers a “bible verse” before killing a character, but the “verse” isn’t actually present in the Bible. Jost said the writers were cautious about the idea at the time.
“We talked about it, and we were like, ‘That would be too ridiculous,’” Jost continued. “‘And it would take up all this time in the cold open. It would seem like we wouldn’t – And then he for real did it! Like two weeks later!”
Jost’s description points to what happened in the real world on April 16. when the 45-year-old defense secretary gave a Pentagon service honoring troops in Iran.. During the service. Hegseth quoted a “bible verse” he said he received from the head of a combat search and rescue (CSAR) team that led a mission to find Air Force pilots downed in Iran.
The verse, as described, closely tracks the passage from Tarantino’s dialogue—down to wording that mirrors what Jackson says in Pulp Fiction. The CSAR prayer was presented as adapted for the moment, including changing “the righteous man” to “the downed aviator.”
“You will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee,” Hegseth said during the prayer.
Some people in Hegseth’s audience appeared to treat the moment as an actual prayer service, bowing their heads reverently while the former Fox News host read lines drawn from the movie.
Even with that, the pushback did not end at observers.. Hegseth has been widely criticized for what has been described as a bizarre prayer service. but Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell responded directly on X.. “Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality,” Parnell wrote.
Parnell added that the “CSAR prayer” was used by the CSAR leader, who gave it to Hegseth.. In a later post. Parnell said Hegseth shared the custom “CSAR prayer” used by the warfighters of Sandy-1. who led the daylight rescue mission of Dude 44 Alpha out of Iran. and that the prayer was “obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction.”
The reported text of Ezekiel 25:17 reads: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.”
The through-line between Jost’s SNL pitch and Hegseth’s real-life appearance is timing and the shared reference point: Jost says he raised the Pulp Fiction “Ezekiel 25:17” idea in the writers’ room about two months earlier. the writers called it “too ridiculous. ” and then Hegseth—who later delivered a “CSAR prayer” during a Pentagon service—did exactly the kind of moment Jost said they thought they wouldn’t have to spend time on.
Where the dispute leaves the public is clear: for critics. the resemblance to the movie is the story. while the Pentagon’s response insists the material came from a CSAR leader and disputes claims that the secretary “misquoted Ezekiel 25:17.” In the middle. the moment has now collided across entertainment and ceremony—so hard that the line between comedy and reality became. for Jost. something he described as having happened almost immediately.
Colin Jost Saturday Night Live SNL Pete Hegseth The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Pulp Fiction Ezekiel 25:17 CSAR prayer Sean Parnell