Colin Jost might have accidentally manifested the wild moment Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible verse from Pulp Fiction.
“We were talking in the writers room, we were pitching ideas for one of the cold opens like two months ago,” the Saturday Night Live star, 43, said during a Thursday, May 14, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “And I was like, ‘Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that bible verse that they have in Pulp Fiction.’”
Jost, who has been impersonating the Secretary of War on the variety show all season, shared that he and the writers “talked about it” making the fictional scenario part of the cold open but thought it would be “too ridiculous.”
Little did they know, art would imitate life and Hegseth, 45, would do that same exact thing Jost allegedly pitched.
“And then, he for-real did it … like two weeks later!” Jost shared. “And I was like, ‘Well, the good news is, I’m being surveilled.’ So, that’s a relief.’”
Last month, Hegseth spoke at a “Faith in Military” event at the Pentagon and recited Samuel L. Jackson’s speech and fictional Bible verse from Pulp Fiction.
“They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth began. “It reads — and pray with me please — ‘The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.”
The Secretary of War continued, “Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee.’ Amen.”
Hegseth’s moment went viral after many realized he quoted Quentin Tarantino’s fictional version of Ezekiel 25:17. In the film, Jackson’s character Jules recites verse before he and his partner-in-crime Vincent Vega (John Travolta) execute a shady crook.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” Jackson said in the movie. “Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
The real version of Ezekiel 25:17 is a much shorter passage that 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.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell reacted to Hegseth’s speech claiming that it was intentional.
“Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday shared a custom prayer, referenced as the CSAR prayer, used by the brave warfighters of Sandy-1 who led the daylight rescue mission of Dude 44 Alpha out of Iran, which was obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction,” Parnell wrote via X. “However, both the CSAR prayer and the dialogue in Pulp Fiction were reflections of the verse Ezekiel 25:17, as Secretary Hegseth clearly said in his remarks at the prayer service. Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality.”
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