Jason Momoa rips off his shirt — and laughs off a flubbed line — in surprise 'Saturday Night Live' cameo
Live from New York ... it’s Khal Drogo.
It’s been a busy week for Jason Momoa, who reunited with former Game of Thrones co-star Emilia Clarke on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show in the U.K. before helping her celebrate her birthday with Kit Harington (a.k.a. Jon Snow). By Saturday night, he’d jetted to New York City to make a scene-stealing appearance on SNL.
The actor popped up in a Saturday Night Live sketch starring this week’s host and musical guest Chance the Rapper as a non-nonsense TV judge making rulings based on his first impressions. After dispensing his knee-jerk justice on several cases, Chance’s “Judge Barry” then welcomes an elderly woman played by Kate McKinnon into his courtroom. Granny’s beef? Her “former live-in nurse,” Apollo, has been stealing her cash.
Enter Momoa, rocking a cheetah-print shirt as he struts into the courtroom as the unrepentant Apollo. The surprise arrival prompted cheers from the live audience and smiles from Chance, who fought the urge to laugh the second a saucy Momoa started talking.
But it was the Aquaman star who would soon make a character-breaking flub of his own, choking back a laugh as he mistakenly said “paraplegic” instead of “paralegal,” much to viewers’ delight.
“I’m not just some dumb gigolo,” Momoa’s Apollo tells the court. “I’m also a certified paraplegic — paralegal — so I understand the law.”
“Your honor, this man is a thief,” McKinnon’s Gladys fires back, spurring him to interject, “Excuse me? She stole from me first.”
When “Judge Barry” asks what Gladys had stolen, he moans, “my heart.”
McKinnon’s Gladys then goes on to accuse Apollo of stealing her heirloom chandelier earrings — a gag seemingly designed with the sole purpose of having Momoa rip off his furry shirt to reveal two baubles dangling from his nipples as he writhes up and down.
“What these?” a gyrating Momoa says. “But they were a gift!”
Some might argue that Momoa’s cameo was the real gift. The actor — next up in See on Apple TV+ — also stuck around to introduce Chance the Rapper’s second musical performance and dispensed hugs as the cast came out for the closing credits.
He later took to Instagram to share his love for the “greatest show on Earth” — and a few more shirtless shots.
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