In his Saturday Night Live hosting debut, The White Lotus‘ Walton Goggins brought his mom onto to the stage of Studio 8H in a sweet tribute for Mother’s Day weekend, as the duo paid homage to their roots in the honky-tonk music scene.
After moseying on down the steps, Goggins addressed the internet fervor around his character in the HBO anthology satire, saying that it “feels fantastic” to become a “sex symbol at 53 years old” — that is, until he Googled himself and saw the headlines about it.
He shouted out the following articles: Cosmopolitan‘s “Are We All Horny for Walton Goggins’s Receding Hairline?”; Slate’s “His Hair is Greasy. His Eyes Are Bulging. I Think I’m In Love” and personal “favorite” Y! Entertainment’s pickup of the same Slate article with the headline: “Hollywood’s Newest Heartthrob Is a Greasy, Depressing Little Man Whom No One Saw Coming.”
“I’ve had the same hairline since I was 7. It’s not receding — it’s holding its ground,” Goggins protested.
Calling the lattermost headline’s usage of the word “whom” the “most” offending and “pretentious,” Goggins transitioned to his upbringing: “But you know what isn’t pretentious? My upbringing. I was raised in Atlanta, Georgia by my mother with the help of her three sisters and my grandmother. And my mama is the most important person in my life.”
The Righteous Gemstones actor recalled his mother taking him to honky-tonks when she couldn’t afford a babysitter, teaching him how to clog and two-step. Showing her seated in the front row of the audience, Goggins then invited her on stage. “Would you dance with me?” he offered.
As the two transitioned into a slow two-step, he halted the music to “kick this up a notch” and the two went into a seamless, lively clog dance to audience cheers.
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