Walton Goggins hails ‘smashing’ SNL White Lotus sketch mocking Aimee Lou Wood amid feud rumors
Walton Goggins appeared to disagree with his co-star Aimee Lou Wood’s assessment of Saturday Night Live’s recent sketch mocking their White Lotus characters.
During the latest episode of NBC’s hit late-night comedy show, SNL cast members reimagined the hit HBO series The White Lotus as The White Potus, which saw Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) attempt to unwind at an exotic vacation resort while secretly panicking about the future financial state of America amid tariff policy chaos, surrounded by Ivanka (Scarlett Johansson) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (Jon Gries).
The SNL skit also attempted to recreate the dynamic between the White Lotus character Rick (Goggins) and his younger girlfriend Chelsea (Wood), with RFK Jr. (Jon Hamm) rambling about fluoride in water to Chelsea, played in the SNL skit by cast member Sarah Sherman, who darts off to kill and eat a monkey.
Sherman’s parody of Chelsea included faking a bizarre British accent and wearing protruding prosthetic teeth in an attempt to mimic Wood’s appearance.
While Wood, 31, found the “White Potus” skit to be “mean and unfunny,” Goggins instead hailed it as “amazing.”
In a since-deleted comment on a clip of the sketch shared from SNL’s Instagram account, the 53-year-old Django Unchained star wrote: “Hahahahahhahaha Amazzzingggg.”
Goggins additionally reshared the clip to his Instagram Story, alongside the word “smashing,” according to Page Six. He further praised Hamm’s spoof of Rick, saying: “Jon … I knew I was miscast.”
The Independent has contacted Goggins’ representative for comment.
Goggins’ praise of the parody comes after Wood hit out at SNL in an Instagram Story, writing: “Yes, take the piss for sure — that’s what the show is about — but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”
Such a “shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple of weeks ago,” she added, later clarifying that her criticism wasn’t directed at Sherman.
“Not Sarah Sherman’s fault. Not hating on her, hating on the concept,” Wood said. “The last thing I’ll say on the matter. I am not thin-skinned. I actually love being taken the p*** out of when it’s clever and in good spirits. But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth, not bad teeth. I don’t mind caricature — I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”
The Sex Education alum has been outspoken on the White Lotus press tour about her prominent teeth, which have become one of her most defining features, with fans finding it refreshing and affirming after a generation of stars with redone teeth. “It feels so lovely. A real full-circle moment after being bullied for my teeth, forever,” Wood said of fan support on a previous appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show.
She has since revealed that she received a rare apology from SNL over the sketch.
Wood and Goggins, who portrayed ill-fated couple Chelsea and Rick on season three of Max’s hit satire, have recently ignited feud rumors after the pair appeared to unfollow each other on Instagram. Eagle-eyed fans have also noticed that the two have refrained from tagging each other in photo posts of their two characters.
