Played by Scarlett Johansson, SNL’s Britt declared she was “auditioning for the part of Scary Mom” with a scene that, in line with Thursday’s address by the senator from Alabama, included family photos, a faucet and a fruit bowl on the countertop.
“I’m worried 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’s Britt said.
The kitchen backdrop drew criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans who said the domestic setting undermined Britt’s stature as a senator, The Washington Post reported.
But it was the way Britt set up an anecdote about a Mexican victim of sex trafficking that came under the most intense scrutiny after her Thursday address. She appeared to imply that it happened under the Biden administration on U.S. soil, when in fact the woman she referred to was forced to work in brothels in Mexico two decades ago, was never trafficked across the border and has never sought asylum in the United States.
Johansson’s Britt segues into the anecdote by insisting she’s a regular mom: “I’m not performing.” (Actual Britt, 42, is the youngest woman ever elected to the Senate, with school-age kids at home.)
“Like any mom,” Johansson’s Britt says, “I’m going to do a pivot out of nowhere into a shockingly violent story about sex trafficking.”
“Rest assured, every detail about it is real except the year, where it took place and who was president when it happened,” Johansson says. The woman Britt referenced testified before Congress about being forced to work in Mexican brothels from 2004 to 2008, when George W. Bush was in the White House and Biden was still a senator.
A viral TikTok by journalist Jonathan Katz first revealed that Britt was speaking about Karla Jacinto Romero. Britt’s communications director, Sean Ross, in a phone conversation with The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, disputed that Britt’s language was misleading, saying Romero’s story was indicative of trafficking that is now happening at the border.
The SNL skit also played on comparisons between Britt’s rebuttal and the archetypal mom-themed infomercial. At one point, Johansson’s Britt offers viewers a chance to buy “these gorgeous bejeweled cross necklaces.”
She finishes with the lines: “To the American people who are struggling right now, know this: We hear you. We see you. We smell you. We’re inside your kitchen right now looking through your fridge. And what’s that on the top shelf? Migrants.”
And a message from “Scary Mom” to President Biden: “I’ll just say this, Mr. Biden, this isn’t the last you’ll see of Katie Britt. Maybe not in politics, but when you close your eyes, I’ll be right there,” delivered with Johansson’s trademark husky voice.